Hearst, S.F. Chronicle and USLege Launch Capitol Confidential Pro in California

Read the announcement on SFChronicle.com · Learn about Capitol Confidential Pro

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, AND AUSTIN, TX — September 8, 2026 — Hearst Newspapers, the San Francisco Chronicle and USLege today announced the California launch of Capitol Confidential Pro, powered by USLege, a California-focused platform designed to help policy professionals capture the context surrounding active legislation, including sponsor activity, hearing statements, agency discussions and local government developments that extend beyond the bill record.

The product builds on the San Francisco Chronicle’s April launch of the Capitol Confidential newsletter led by Kathryn Palmer. Capitol Confidential Pro pairs Palmer’s reporting and analysis with USLege’s advanced technology to support the core work of government affairs teams, including advising, communications, research, strategy and lobbying, across state and local government, nonprofits and private-sector organizations.

“Capitol Confidential reports on and analyzes activity in Sacramento throughout the week, helping readers understand the context influencing legislative momentum, not just the votes recorded on a bill. Pairing Kathryn Palmer’s reporting with USLege’s technology gives California policy teams direct access to real-time activity across the legislative ecosystem, supported by both journalist-led reporting and AI-assisted analysis.”

— Emilio Garcia-Ruiz, Editor-in-Chief, San Francisco Chronicle

The California platform provides searchable coverage, including bill activity, public hearings and government meetings, from state legislation to local school board meetings. Users can move directly from an alert or search result to the relevant portion of a meeting or hearing, helping them identify crucial developments that can be difficult and time-consuming to find across fragmented public sources, where missed context can delay response.

“Teams across the country are replacing legacy platforms with USLege because we built this in the AI era. We create transcripts that never existed before, from city council meetings to statehouses to Congress, and we connect the dots across data that's never been connected in one place. Pairing that with Sacramento reporting means California government affairs teams get the fastest alerts and the fullest picture available anywhere. That's Capitol Confidential Pro, powered by USLege.”

— Laura Davis, Co-founder & Chief Business Officer, USLege

Subscribers to Capitol Confidential Pro gain access to:

• Legislative monitoring: Track and analyze California bills, cross-reference related developments, follow legislation affecting local governments and receive alerts on new documents, status changes, statutes and interim legislative topics.
• Regulatory and executive monitoring: Receive alerts when tracked issues surface in executive orders, the State Register, regulatory documents and public comments.
• Government video and local coverage: Search video and transcripts from meetings held by state agencies, cities, counties, school boards and special districts, and receive alerts when tracked issues are raised.
• Reporting and analysis: Access insider reporting that connects the missing dots around State Capitol activity, revealing the relationships, priorities and behind-the-scenes dynamics driving the news and shaping legislation, alongside AI-assisted summaries and tools for organizing research, reporting and client communications.

The California launch follows the platform’s New York rollout and expands the Hearst Newspapers and USLege collaboration into one of the country’s largest and most complex state and local policy environments.

California government relations professionals can learn how Capitol Confidential Pro helps them assess bill viability and track substantive issues raised during local hearings.

About USLege

USLege captures, transcribes and connects government activity — bills, hearings, agency rulemaking and local meetings — across all 50 states, Congress and local government, and pairs it with AI built for the questions government affairs teams actually ask. Learn more at uslege.ai.

About the San Francisco Chronicle

The San Francisco Chronicle (sfchronicle.com) is the largest newspaper in Northern California and the second largest on the West Coast. Acquired by Hearst in 2000, the San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 and has been awarded seven Pulitzer Prizes for journalistic excellence. Capitol Confidential California is the California edition of a Hearst political reporting initiative that launched originally in Albany, N.Y.