Kratom (Mitragyna speciosa) capsules with kratom powder and green leaves OPINION – I am a 48-year-old Army veteran from Woodland, CA. By many accounts, I am a typical person – married with children, maintain close friendships, love my relatives, and have a daily routine. At the same time, my life is a story of both desperation and resilience in the face of chronic pain.
Sacramento, California, United States. Image by Png-StudioFriday is the deadline for bills to get out of their house of origin, so this week lawmakers are addressing hundreds of bills in short order. Here is just a sampling of some of those measures.
The Capitol's Top power couple: Ann Patterson and Nathan Barankin. In just a few months, Capitol Weekly will unveil its 16th annual Top 100 list recognizing the most influential members of the Capitol community. As we began researching this year’s list, however, we realized that in all our years of the Top 100 we’ve overlooked a critical dynamic of Capitol clout: the Capitol power couple whose combined prominence and rolodex is greater than the sum of their parts. To rectify that, today we publish our first ever Capitol Weekly Top 10 Power Couples, along with three up-and-coming pairs to keep your eyes on.
The flags fly in front of Sacramento's Capital Building, image by ChrisBoswellThe new edition of Capitol Quick Hits: a look at a little-known but potentially hugely impactful change in how our regulates corporations and antitrust law, the real oomph of a California Senate seat and some pushback on state workers returning to the office.
Flag of California in a mixed stack of coins. Image by eyegelbEagle-eyed readers of Capitol Weekly’s recent report on quarterly lobbying payments might have spotted an unfamiliar firm name among the top recipients for the first quarter of 2024: the Deveau Burr Group. Especially close readers also might have noticed that Strategies 360, a perennial top firm in Sacramento, was conspicuously absent from the list of top payees for the quarter.
Child school boy with smartphone, digital cybersecurity hologram with glowing lock circuit. Cybersecurity hud and connection. Concept of data protectionOPINION – California is the premier state to watch for regulating kids’ online safety. From its robust data privacy law to the contentious Age Appropriate Design Code (AADC), the state presents a wealth of opportunities to get kids’ online safety right. However, crucial First Amendment concerns have blocked the implementation of the AADC, and critical questions remain on the best path forward to keep kids safe online.
Brian Green, photo by Scott Duncan, Capitol WeeklyA professional communicator with decades of experience, this month’s Capitol Spotlight subject Brian Green helps the California State Senate Democratic shape the stories it wants to tell.
Book with California taxes on a desk.OPINION – The tax laws of most states are an offshoot of the federal tax laws contained in the Internal Revenue Code (IRC). States conform to the IRC on either a “rolling” or “static” basis for purposes of computing the state’s tax base.
Former California Superintendent of Public Instruction Delaine Eastin. Photo by Scott Duncan, Capitol WeeklyDelaine Eastin, an impassioned and feisty advocate for public education and the first – and only — woman ever to serve as California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, has died at the age of 76. In a statement released after her death, Eastin was remembered not only as the state’s only female Superintendent of Public Instruction, but also only the fifth woman elected to statewide office in California.
Image of Tall orange tile roof tower aerial San Francisco city skyscrapers with Coit Tower, CAOPINION – Thousands of people, including families, youth and seniors, live and work in downtown San Francisco, yet Senator Wiener’s new bill, Senate Bill 1227, proposes to eradicate all protections under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for the area.