93. Randall Hagar
Randall Hagar, legislative advocate for the Psychiatric Physicians Alliance of California, has quietly, for decades, played a key role in complex policy and legislative efforts to reform California’s notoriously patchwork system of mental health care. It’s a subject generating intense political interest as the state’s mental health and homelessness crisis plays out
90. Michael Romano
Michael Romano is the founder and director of the Three Strikes Project at Stanford Law School, which seeks to amend or reverse the most unjust criminal sentences under the law. Since 2006, the effort has overturned 18 life sentences. In 2019, Gov. Newsom appointed Romano as chair of California’s new criminal law and
86. Arnie Sowell Jr.
Arnie Sowell Jr. is the Executive Director of Nextgen Policy, the California-based nonprofit launched by billionaire Tom Steyer to advocate for progressive policies in the Golden State. Steyer (a habituè of this list for several years) has increasingly turned his focus to the national picture and relies on key advisors like
87. Karen Getman
Attorney Karen Getman is the founding partner of the powerhouse political and governmental law firm Olson Remcho, based in Oakland. She is also a major player in education funding through her work for the California Teachers Association. That was on full display this year as the organization had a near knife fight
71. Kurt Oneto
Direct democracy looms over everything that happens in Sacramento and Kurt Oneto, the leader of Nielsen Merksamer’s government law section, knows that world like the back of his hand. A recognized expert in initiative and referenda law, Oneto specializes in statewide ballot measures, having served as counsel and legal strategist to more
Joaquin Esquivel at a water board meeting. (Photo: Water Education Foundation.)As a native of the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs where it hardly ever rains, Joaquin Esquivel has always known that water is precious. His uncle often took him to the Salton Sea, and he had family served by a well. He carries that respect for the resource as chair of California’s State Water Resources Control Board. “Growing up in the desert, you are very aware of water,” he said.
31. Alice Busching Reynolds
Alice Busching Reynolds wields enormous power as the president of the Public Utilities Commission, which oversees private utilities, natural gas operations, railroads, telecommunications and private water companies among other far-reaching industries and services. A consummate insider, Reynolds served for three years as Gov. Newsom’s senior advisor on energy and before that
10. Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher
A former state lawmaker, Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher leads the California Labor Federation, another of the state’s most prominent labor organizations. CLF is affiliated with 120 unions that represent a combined 2.1 million workers, including the United Farm Workers, whom Gonzalez Fletcher brought into the fold when she left the Assembly in
57. Kimberly Rodriguez
Kimberly Rodriguez has become something of a fixture in the Pro Tem’s office. She was policy director under Toni Atkins and now she’s policy director and deputy chief of staff under Mike McGuire. She manages an 11-person staff for the Senate Democratic Caucus, working to advance the caucus’ agenda. In her role
6. Tia Orr
Tia Orr may be the most powerful unelected woman in California politics. The first African American woman and just the second Latina to serve as the executive director of the 700,000 member SEIU California, Orr is simply a force of nature. And good thing, as there is no major negotiation involving labor