A dog eyes a trove of dumped plastic containers in Moorpark, Calif. (Photo: Alexandra Bilham, via Shutterstock)Approximately 85% of single-use plastics in California never get recycled. By standardizing and clarifying the labeling of recyclable waste, California’s new law aims to align manufacturing standards with state regulations in order to increase the amount of plastic material that actually gets recycled.
A photo illustration of an inflation-ravaged dollar. (Image: SERSOLL, via Shutterstock)California is poised to benefit strongly from the federal Inflation Reduction Act, a massive, hard-fought and newly passed package meant to address healthcare, climate change and myriad other issues across the county.
Randall Hagar, who represents the Psychiatric Physicians Alliance of California. )(Photo: PPAC)Randall Hagar has been in the forefront of major mental health policy and legislation in California for decades. As the father of a severely mentally ill adult son and longtime legislative advocate for California psychiatrists, he brings to policy discussions deep knowledge of both family struggles and the complex intricacies of mental health policy and law.
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Longtime politics oppo research specialist Joe Rodota has lately turned his skills toward historical events and storytelling, first with a book on the Watergate complex, The Watergate: Inside America’s Most Infamous Address, and now with a new podcast, Hillside: The Investigation and Trial of the Hillside Strangler.
A farmers' market in Oceanside, where a heavy emphasis is placed on recycling. (Photo: Dogora Sun, via Shutterstock)In 2019, a Californian named Zuleyka Strasner created a sustainable grocery delivery startup called Zero Grocery. Previously an operations manager at a Bay Area venture capital firm, she got the idea for her low-waste grocery service after seeing a startling amount of plastic trash washing up on the tropical Nicaraguan beach where she’d honeymooned.
Lobbyists crowd around video screen to watch the floor votes on the last night of the Legislature's session. (Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, AP)The final curtain fell early Thursday on a legislative session that coursed through a pandemic, bolstered reproductive rights, saw a speaker nearly dispatched by his own caucus and drew the national spotlight to a governor who had survived an effort to recall him from office.
A pre-school girl and her therapist. (Photo: ABO Photography, via Shutterstock)Mental health services are crucial to our well-being. I think that most people will agree with me. As I write, mental health clinicians employed at Kaiser Permanente in Northern California are beginning week three of a strike over work conditions. As these essential workers see it, their employer’s rules are harmful to them and their patients. Count a young family member of mine among the latter. What follows are my reflections on his experience with Kaiser clinicians.
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST:It’s Labor Day, so we’re just offering up a very brief episode, looking at the sad fate of AB1577, the bill that would have allowed legislative staff to unionize. We’ll be back with a full regular episode next week.
Sen. Richard Pan delivers remarks on the Senate floor. (Photo: Rich Pedroncelli, AP)A California lawmaker who rose to national prominence by muscling through some of the country’s strongest vaccination laws is leaving the state Legislature later this year after a momentous tenure that made him a top target of the boisterous and burgeoning anti-vaccination movement.
CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Political data guru and “District Whisperer” Paul Mitchell joins us for a status update on the November election. Since Paul’s last visit to the podcast we’ve had a sea change: the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade has galvanized the Democratic electorate, and seems to have overturned conventional expectations about Midterm elections.