Podcast
California legislative staff – and many of their bosses – are enthralled by a new Instagram account devoted to sharing anonymous stories detailing alleged misbehavior by legislators, senior staff and others in authority in the Capitol and district offices. Some question the motives behind the account’s host and the veracity of the anonymous stories. Whatever the source, whatever the percentage of fact vs. fiction, there is no dispute that the account has disrupted business as usual at the Capitol.
News
Inspired by their union-yearning congressional counterparts, state Capitol employees have taken to social media with anonymous posts about bad bosses and a percolating desire for the same bargaining rights enjoyed by other state workers. The Instagram account, “DearCaStaffers,” had about 2,700 followers by Thursday. That was 400 more than the day before.
News
Keeping roads pothole free has been a challenge in California for decades. But an unusual solution has emerged — a per-mile-driven fee on motorists, called a Road Use Charge, with the money going to build and maintain infrastructure, including roads and highways.
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California College of the Arts employees with the Service Employees International Union Local 1021 went on strike today (Feb. 8) at the private college’s Oakland and San Francisco campuses. The CCA strike is the first such labor action at a private college in California since a brief a one-day work stoppage at Pepperdine 46 years ago.
News
The pandemic economy has catalyzed changes for California businesses and consumers. Take the impacts of the state’s system of ports that connect with the movement of goods to 40 million residents.
Podcast
Each year, the James Irvine Foundation Leadership Awards recognize Californians whose innovative projects contribute to making a better California. We invited Charles Fields, Irvine’s VP of Program Implementation, to speak with us about this year’s award recipients, about the program and about the history of the Irvine Foundation.
News
Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger championed an effort to install a million solar energy systems throughout the state. Fifteen years later, lured by incentives, there are more than 1.3 million solar rooftops that produce enough electricity for millions of homes across California. But a sharp debate is brewing among energy experts, the utilities, consumers and labor interests about fairness of the original program, called “net metering.”
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The California stem cell agency says it has received $15.6 million in royalties from Stanford University, the largest such payment by far in the 17-year history of the state research agency. Until the announcement, the agency, officially known as the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), had received only $557,292 in royalties.
Podcast
This episode we welcome California Assemblymember Ash Kalra to talk about the biggest bill of 2022 so far: AB 1400, the California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act. The bill (and a companion Constitutional amendment, ACA 11) would create a single-payer healthcare system administrated by the state. Kalra spoke with Capitol Weekly’s John Howard and Tim Foster about his hopes for the bill, how it differs from its predecessor SB 562, and why he believes that California needs a single-payer system.
News
California could soon be seeing an unprecedented overhaul of its state health care system — but only if the politics and money come together. Two proposals are making the rounds at the Capitol which, if approved, would greatly expand eligibility for publicly funded health insurance.
