Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Today we welcome Amy O’Gorman Jenkins, the state’s preeminent cannabis lobbyist. Jenkins was one of the first lobbyists for the state’s once-maligned, now coveted, cannabis industry, first when she worked out of Darius Anderson’s shop, then later at her own firm, Precision Advocacy. She describes an industry in peril, with legal outlets closing, legal sales dropping, and the state’s cannabis excise tax poised to go up July 1 unless the legislature acts.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: A Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast, recorded live at the California Insurance Crisis, which was held in Sacramento on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. This is Panel 2: The Los Angeles Fires, featuring Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore; Steve Hawks, Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety; Kelsey Szamet, Eaton Fire Survivors Network; Nancy Wallace, UC Berkeley. Moderated by journalist Dan Morain.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at the California Insurance Crisis, which was held in Sacramento on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. This is Panel 3: What Next?, featuring Sen. Roger Niello; Alex Hall, UCLA; John Norwood, Norwood Associates; and Denni Ritter, American Property Casualty Insurance Association. Moderated by Rich Ehisen of Capitol Weekly.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: This Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast was recorded live at California Insurance Crisis, which was held in Sacramento on Wednesday, May 14, 2025. This is Panel 1: The State of the Insurance Industry, featuring Amy Bach of United Policyholders; Rex Frazier, Personal Insurance Federation of California; Meredith Fowlie, UC Berkeley. The panel was moderated by Levi Sumagaysay of Calmatters.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: In this Special Episode, we present the Keynote address from yesterday’s California Insurance Crisis, by California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. Commissioner Lara delivered a fierce defense of his administration’s efforts to stabilize the state’s struggling property insurance market, outlining new proposals and initiatives, including formation of a Smoke Claims and Remediation Task Force. He blasted special interests, and his predecessors in the office – both Republican and Democratic – describing them as placeholders who refused to address systematic problems in the state’s insurance market.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: In March, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks and a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced a 22-bill package aimed at reforming the building permitting process in California, an effort to fast-track housing development statewide. Wicks joined us to talk about the bills, why they are needed, and what it will take to get the package to the governor’s desk this year. We’re also joined by Port of Long Beach CEO Mario Cordero to talk about the impact of the Trump tariffs on the nation’s busiest port.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Our 400th episode! On today’s show we welcome April Manatt, Executive Director of the California Problem Solvers Foundation and former head of the the California Legislative Staff Education Institute. Manatt spoke with us about her work in both of these organizations, the importance of bipartisanship in policy making, and bridging the divide.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: First up, we chat with California Secretary of State Shirley Weber about The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, proposed federal legislation that would require all Americans to reregister to vote, in person, with either a birth certificate or passport. We also spoke with Trans activist Ebony Harper, founding executive director of California TRANScends, and the author of The Trans Manifesto.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Jeff Pearlman has been a sportswriter for three decades, and is the best-selling author of ten books on sports, including ‘Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley, and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s,’ which was adapted as the HBO series ‘Winning Time.’ In February 2025 he turned his attention to the ultimate contact sport: politics.
Podcast
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Democratic Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo joined us to talk about her legislative priorities, the Los Angeles Fires, the Chiquita Canyon Landfill environmental crisis, and why cuts to the VA are personal for her. And as always, we tell you Who Had the Worst Week in California Politics.
