We are joined this episode by Asm. Kevin McCarty of Sacramento, who walks Capitol Weekly’s John Howard and Tim Foster through some of the groundbreaking investments in education that are enshrined in the 2021-22 state budget, signed last Monday by Gov. Newsom. McCarty, a Democratic member of the Assembly Budget Committee, takes a victory lap, touting the unabashedly progressive education agenda outlined in the Budget.
David Quintana toasting with Lil Jon at the 2020 BashThe Bash (AKA The Back to Session Bash) has been a Capitol tradition for close to two decades now. The 2020 edition – the biggest ever – was held as usual in January, before COVID was a concern. Twelve months later, a January 2021 Bash was out of the question. The question then was: cancel
We are joined this episode by California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services chief Mark Ghilarducci. Ghilarducci leads the state response to disasters of all kinds. Ghilarducci has extensive experience: he has served California governors since the Deukmejian administration and was the incident commander on the Oklahoma City bombing recovery effort. We asked him for his thoughts on the recent building collapse in Surfside, Florida as well as on California’s 2021 fire season. Plus: Who had the #WorstWeekCA? Reporter Natalie Hanson joins us to explain what is happening on the Chico city council, which lost two councillors in the course of six days.
When we think of solar energy, we think of Bernadette Del Chiaro. Bernadette is the executive director of the California Solar & Storage Association, whose mission is to promote the widespread deployment of local clean energy technologies. Rooftop solar has been one of the state’s biggest clean-energy success stories: California has built the equivalent of five nuclear power plants-worth of rooftop solar in the past 15 years. Now, proposed changes to net metering could put the brakes on the state’s rooftop solar expansion.
Ken Jacobs, chair of the UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education, joined John Howard and Tim Foster to chat about a number of labor issues, including the ongoing uproar over at SEIU 1000 following the election of outsider candidate Richard Louis Brown; the latest fallout from Proposition 22; and The PRO Act: what is it, and how will it impact California workers if passed? Also: What the heck is going on at the Santa Barbara Citizen’s Independent Redistricting Commission?
We are joined today by the Governor Newsom’s Executive Secretary, (aka chief of staff) Jim Deboo. Deboo joined the governor’s office in January, just as the pandemic surged in the wake of the holidays. We spoke to Deboo about governing under such unpredictable circumstances, how the horseshoe works under lockdown rules, and asked him who HE’D put on the Top 100.
Portion of a Facebook post urging SEIU 1000 members to voteSince we posted FOUR new episodes this past week, we’re offering up an abbreviated version of our regular podcast… this time we’ll just look at who had the #WorstWeekCA. If you have been following the news, the answer should be pretty clear: SEIU 1000, home to 96,000 union state employees, saw a dramatic low-turnout election that unseated the longtime leader and replaced her with an outsider candidate who promised to cut all political spending, and told Gavin Newsom not to expect his union’s help in the Recall.
On May 26, 2021, Capitol Weekly presented a series of live panel discussions and presentations on Zoom, examining California Housing Policy. We have presented audio from each of the presentations as individual episodes of the Capitol Weekly Podcast.
Image courtesy California State ParksWith Memorial Day – one of the biggest camping holidays of the year – coming up next Monday, we thought we’d check in on the status of California’s State Parks. We’re joined this week by Gloria Sandoval, Deputy Director of Public Affairs for State Parks who tells us how to get into your favorite park – and offers tips on what to do if your first option is booked.
Assemblyman Mike Gipson (D) represents the 64th Assembly District, which includes communities that are among some of those hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic: Carson, Compton, Gardena, South Los Angeles, Torrance and Watts. Gipson is the chair of the committee on Infectious Diseases, and introduced AB1038, a bill to create a $180 million California Health Equity Fund that would address health and social inequities that have been exacerbated by COVID-19.