Jill Cowan: Why did you and CALMatters decide to tackle this in a podcast form?

Laurel Rosenhall: This is a huge issue in the Legislature because it’s become a huge issue in so many communities around California. And the death of Stephon Clark in Sacramento really propelled it onto the front burner for the Legislature in a way that earlier shootings hadn’t done.

It’s extremely emotional and perceived as a life or death issue by both sides. And that gets to your question about why we’re doing a podcast. You know the emotion of that comes through in a podcast in a way that is different than on the printed page. And we’re really conceiving of this as a project that goes from now through October when the governor has to decide on all the bills that reach his desk.

Tell me about what it is in California’s political climate that’s giving rise to this particular debate here.

Obviously having a huge Democratic majority in the Legislature, which is around 75 percent right now, plus having a new governor who has a track record of taking groundbreaking and risky moves that ended up panning out well for him — I think those are definitely big factors in terms of the political landscape.

But I also think there are factors outside of politics that have led to this moment.

It’s been a sea change on this issue in the last decade largely because of technological changes and between the rise of social media cellphone videos and police body cameras. And so there’s just like a broader societal swell.