The California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) is a non-partisan, nonprofit, boundary organization with the mission of bringing science to decisionmakers. We focus on building and strengthening relationships with California’s decisionmakers—who need information to craft fact-based policy—and the scientists and experts who generate knowledge. We connect science and policy through a variety of programs, including 1) rapid-response expert briefings for the California capitol community on emerging issues, such as wildfires or disease outbreaks; 2) peer-reviewed, independent studies commissioned by State entities to provide decisionmakers with comprehensive analyses of the state of science on politically relevant, technically complex topics; and 3) a Science Fellowship program that for the past 10 years has placed PhD scientists and engineers as staff in State legislative offices for a year of public service. We will share specific examples from our programs that highlight best practices for facilitating the transfer of knowledge between scientists and decisionmakers and lessons learned from navigating the barriers that commonly arise when working at the boundary of science and policy.