Posts Tagged: Californians
News
We’re a long way off from the 2026 gubernatorial election, but 14 candidates – nine Democrats and four Republicans – have already kicked their campaigns to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom into high gear. Some are familiar names and faces; others are not. And of course all of them are, like the rest of us, waiting to see if former California Attorney General, U.S. Senator and Vice President Kamala Harris adds her name to the list. While Harris ponders her future, over the next few months Capitol Weekly will take a brief look at how the current candidates shape up.
Opinion
OPINION – It’s been nearly two decades since the groundbreaking law, AB 32, established our state’s ambitious goals for reducing climate-harming greenhouse gas emissions. But there is much more to do.
Opinion
OPINION – There’s been news coverage lately about potential large-scale selloffs of national public lands. While there is no doubt that California has an affordable housing crisis, we don’t believe that large-scale public lands selloffs are the answer.
Opinion
OPINION – As multiple media outlets have reported, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is getting into the ring to defend the electric vehicle mandates they have foisted upon California’s families and businesses. Unfortunately, CARB’s staunch defense of anti-consumer regulations is a master class in disinformation – purposefully designed to deceive Californians.
Opinion
OPINION – We can no longer ignore the needs of our state’s medically fragile patients – nor should we.
News
Special interests, or as the California Secretary of State calls them “lobbyist employers,” paid lobbying firms more than $66 million to lobby state government in the first quarter of 2025, according to a Capitol Weekly analysis of lobbying firm reports.
Opinion
OPINION – As the California Assembly considers AB305, bipartisan legislation that could rewrite California’s energy future, the stakes could not be higher. The bill would exempt small modular reactors (SMRs) from the state’s nuclear moratorium in an attempt to end California’s reliance on fossil gas and carve out a new path for an abundant, carbon-free energy future.
Opinion
OPINION – There is a quiet but seismic shift underway right now in the global artificial intelligence (AI) race. California, as America’s innovation powerhouse, cannot afford to ignore it.
Capitol Spotlight
The Capitol’s Fellows programs are considered some of the toughest to break into, and Erica Costa is no stranger to that challenge. A graduate of the Assembly Fellows Program, followed by over 15 years of public service experience, she was recently named director of the Senate Fellows Program at the Center for California Studies at Sacramento State University.
Opinion
OPINION – The Metropolitan Water District of Southern California recently adopted what could be a revolutionary policy, providing a lens through which to consider how to spend precious ratepayer dollars.
Former Senate pro Tem Toni Atkins, photo by AP. 
