Roger Niello, California State Senator

Guest Bio

Roger Niello is a California State Senator representing the 6th District and the Vice Chair of the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee. A seasoned business owner, former Sacramento County Supervisor, and former State Assemblymember, Niello brings decades of private-sector experience and legislative governance to state fiscal policy discussions. He is widely recognized for his advocacy on budget transparency, structural tax reform, and common-sense regulatory change to foster economic growth and business retention in the Golden State.

Show Summary

A high-stakes fiscal crisis is unfolding in Sacramento, masked by a $350 billion state budget that is neither balanced nor on time. Under simple-majority rules passed via ballot initiative, Republicans have little say in the state budget, leaving taxpayers to shoulder structural deficits. California State Senator and Budget Committee Vice Chair Roger Niello joins host Jon Slavet for a bracing reality check on the economic math behind California’s current spending priorities.

Niello pulls no punches as he exposes the upside-down priorities embedded in the latest budget. He details a shocking policy swap: Sacramento completely eliminated state-level healthcare funding for legal immigrants while retaining it for undocumented residents. Niello explains how these rich benefit structures, combined with an estimated deficit that reemerges at $10 billion in two years, create a deep moral hazard while ignoring the needs of taxpaying citizens.

The conversation gets tactical as they break down the legislative drag on California’s employers. As the only state in the nation that has refused to pay back its federal COVID unemployment insurance (UI) debt, California is forcing businesses to pay up to $450 per employee—nearly ten times the base rate—just to service the interest on the debt. From the regulatory chokehold on agriculture that bans autonomous vehicles on private farmland to systemic failures in wildfire prevention and the K-12 educational neglect of Black and brown students, this episode is an unfiltered masterclass in fiscal realism.

Chapters

00:22 The Budget Sham: Exposing the structural deficit behind the state's spending plan.
02:28 Simple Majority Loophole: How Proposition 25 removed pay-withholding consequences for legislators.
03:31 Tax Hikes & High-Speed Rail: Breaking down the latest phone tax increases and wasteful spending.
03:58 The Healthcare Swap: Stripping benefits from legal immigrants while funding undocumented programs.
05:35 Prop 36 Defunding: Criticizing Sacramento's bait-and-switch on local drug and mental health funding.
07:39 UI Debt Crisis: Detailing the massive federal loan drag punishing California businesses.
10:00 Wildfire Prevention Failures: Revealing the state's failure to meet forest clearing targets.
11:08 Systemic Fraud Leakage: Exposing rampant hospice and social program welfare fraud.
14:14 Agricultural Red Tape: Analyzing the regulatory ban on autonomous farm vehicles.
17:53 Systemic Reforms: Demanding comprehensive CEQA overhaul and K-12 educational standards.
20:39 Glimmers of Hope: Finding optimism in California's tech-driven economic core.

Connect with Roger Niello

• 𝕏: https://x.com/SenRogerNiello?lang=en
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/roger-niello-b50185174/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/senrogerniello/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SenRogerNiello/

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Marisa Lagos, KQED California Politics and Gov't Desk

Guest Bio: 

Marisa Lagos is an award-winning political correspondent for KQED’s California Politics and Government Desk and the co-host of the weekly podcast, Political Breakdown. Throughout her distinguished career, Lagos has conducted deep-dive reporting, analysis, and investigations into state, local, and national politics for radio, TV, online, and live stages—including moderating California's sole gubernatorial debate in 2022. Named one of the top political journalists in California by the Washington Post in 2020, she was nominated for a Peabody Award and won several other accolades for her investigative work on the 2017 California wildfires. Prior to joining KQED, Lagos built a strong foundation in print journalism covering City Hall and the state legislature for the San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco Examiner, and Los Angeles Times. She is a UC Santa Barbara graduate and lives in San Francisco.

Show Summary

A high-stakes clash is escalating between federal authorities and California over immigration, sanctuary policies, and public spending. Following the Supreme Court's 6-3 conservative majority ruling giving the President sole authority to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for hundreds of thousands of people, California is bracing for localized fallout. While progressive lawmakers scramble, KQED political correspondent Marisa Lagos joins host Jon Slavet for a bracing reality check on what the state can—and cannot—do to push back against federal immigration mandates.

Lagos traces the roots of California's deep-seated pro-immigrant policies, explaining how the backlash to Proposition 187 in the 1990s sparked a political revolution that systematically eroded Republican power in the state. However, as California grapples with massive budget deficits, the moral hazard of expanding full-scope Medi-Cal and other taxpayer-funded benefits to undocumented residents has become a lightning rod. Lagos breaks down how Governor Gavin Newsom has been forced to scale back these policies, mandating a $30 monthly premium starting in 2027 to manage an unsustainable $11 billion annual program cost.

The conversation gets tactical as they analyze the House Judiciary Committee's formal investigation into sanctuary policies in San Francisco and San Diego. Lagos demystifies the on-the-ground reality of SB 54, explaining that state prisons already turn thousands of undocumented criminals over to ICE annually, while conservative law enforcement leaders like Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco reject the idea of local deputies participating directly in federal immigration raids. From the silence of agricultural operators under aggressive ICE workplace audits to Xavier Becerra’s controversial HHS record, this episode is a masterclass in California's legal and political battles.

Chapters

01:18 The Feds vs. California Immigration Battle: Parsing the SCOTUS 6-3 ruling granting the President sole authority to end Temporary Protected Status (TPS).

02:57 The Medi-Cal and Benefits Debate: Discussing the moral hazard and fiscal reality of expanding state healthcare and public benefits to undocumented residents in California.

07:12 The $11 Billion Budget Reality Check: Analyzing Governor Newsom's walkback of full-scope Medi-Cal policy and the introduction of a monthly premium starting in 2027.

07:39 Sanctuary Policy Investigation: Assessing the House Judiciary Committee's formal investigation into San Francisco and San Diego's sanctuary policies.

12:40 Incarceration vs. Deportation Paradox: Evaluating the fiscal and safety questions of housing undocumented convicts in state prisons versus immediate deportation.

13:43 Workplace Audits and Farm Bureau Silence: Looking at how Central Valley agricultural operators are navigating the aggressive federal workplace crackdowns quietly behind the scenes.

16:38 Handcuffs on Federal Agents?: Breaking down the explosive story of California prosecutors warning of potential prosecutions against ICE agents.

19:16 Auditing the Becerra Record: Investigating candidate Xavier Becerra's controversial track record on child migrants as HHS Secretary and its impact on the gubernatorial race vs. Steve Hilton.

22:45 Rapid Fire & A Scepter for Sacramento: Marisa's "queen for a day" plan for tax reform, eliminating political egos, and why she remains an ultimate California booster.

Connect with Marisa Lagos

• X(Twitter): https://x.com/mlagos
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marisa-lagos-34b82a68/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marisa.lagos/

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Guest:

Chuck DeVore, Chief National Initiatives Officer - Texas Public Policy Foundation

Guest Bio: 

Chuck DeVore is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel, a former California State Assemblyman representing Orange County, and a leading authority on national security, state-level fiscal policy, and competitive federalism. He currently serves as the Chief National Initiatives Officer and Senior Fellow at the Texas Public Policy Foundation. DeVore's distinguished career in public service includes serving as a special assistant for foreign affairs in the Reagan administration—where he assisted in planning historic Cold War-era naval operations—and decades of analytical writing on state government structure. His deep expertise in both Middle Eastern geopolitics and the economic rivalry between the nation's two largest states offers a unique, dual-lens perspective on contemporary America.

Show Summary

A major geopolitical pivot has occurred, with the United States signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Islamic Republic of Iran. While critics from the MAGA base to traditional hawk circles raise alarm over sanction relief, blockades being lifted, and a $300 billion reconstruction fund, military veteran and policy analyst Chuck DeVore argues we cannot analyze this agreement in a vacuum. Underneath the diplomatic off-ramp lies a story of devastating, highly calculated kinetic action that has fundamentally crippled Tehran's regional leverage before the diplomatic ink was even dry.

Sitting down with State of Gold host Jon Slavet, DeVore brings historical chops to the table. He reflects on his own experience planning Reagan-era naval operations to explain why Trump's military strikes have dismantled Iran's command structure, isolated proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas, and destroyed the metallurgy factories essential for ballistic missile production. He breaks down the technological realities of nuclear weapons, reminding us that building a warhead is only half the battle—the highly complex delivery systems required are actually far more difficult and expensive to construct.

The conversation then pivots from Middle Eastern skirmishes to the domestic battlefront, tackling the fiscal rivalry between California and Texas. Drawing on his tenure in the California Assembly and his current leadership perch in Austin, DeVore pulls back the curtain on the spending math. California spends an astronomical $350 billion annually for 39 million residents, while Texas operates on a more decentralized model and annual budget of $100 billion per year for 30 million people. DeVore details how California’s centralized administrative state, combined with regulatory monsters like CEQA, has manufactured artificial inflation, offering a bracing reality check on why the Golden State continues to hemorrhage its middle class.

Chapters

00:00 The Iran MOU: Decompressing the geopolitics behind Trump's diplomatic off-ramp.
02:18 Dismantling the Proxies: How Syrian shifts and targeted military pressure isolated Hezbollah and Hamas.
04:18 The Delivery System Dilemma: Why building ballistic missiles is historically harder than enriching uranium.
05:50 The Art of Sanctions Relief: Tracking monitored US dollar accounts versus opaque cryptocurrency.
09:42 The Nuclear Redline: What short-term kinetic strikes accomplished without putting boots on the ground.
13:40 Verification Hardball: Lessons from Reagan’s Pentagon on preventing treaty cheating.
17:35 The Vance vs. Rubio Dynamic: Decoding why J.D. Vance is leading Middle East negotiations.
20:21 The Texas Blueprint: What Sacramento must learn about tax rates and regulatory paralysis.
21:47 The Budget Showdown: Contrasting California’s $350B spend with Texas's lean model.
23:50 The Electoral Divide: How local union capture and low-turnout elections impact Texas spending.

Connect with Chuck DeVore

• 𝕏 (Twitter): ⁠Chuck DeVore 𝕏 Profile
• LinkedIn: ⁠Chuck DeVore LinkedIn Profile
• Primary Expert Page: ⁠The Honorable Chuck DeVore - Texas Public Policy Foundation website. 

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Guest:

Tony Strickland, California State Senator 

Guest Bio:

Tony Strickland is a veteran California legislator, policy advocate, and prominent campaign strategist who has spent decades building grassroots conservative coalitions across the Golden State. He has served multiple terms in both the California State Assembly and the State Senate, heavily prioritizing public safety infrastructure, tax reform, and middle-class economic relief. A high-profile fundraiser and political leader, Strickland is widely recognized for his unyielding advocacy on ballot initiatives and structural budget accountability. He currently serves as a leading champion for restoring fiscal discipline and functional constitutional governance to California. 

Show Summary:

"For the first time in modern history, more people are leaving the Golden State than coming in—we have catch up to do, and we are exactly one leader away from prosperity," says Senator Tony Strickland. In this episode of State of Gold, host Jon Slavet sits down with the legislative veteran to break down the high-stakes political realignment shifting the baseline for California voters.

Strickland pulls back the curtain on the gubernatorial race, outlining why he has thrown his full backing behind Steve Hilton. He draws direct historical parallels to Ronald Reagan’s trademark optimistic conservatism as a template for outmaneuvering progressive hypermajorities, emphasizing how over two-thirds of Californians already believe the state is on the wrong track.

The conversation gets specific on the funding crisis behind Proposition 36. Despite the safety measure sweeping all 58 counties with an overwhelming, near-70% landslide, Strickland exposes how the current administration created an unfunded mandate—allocating a meager $100 million over three years against a $400 million annual structural requirement, while leaving the probation system starved for cash. From tracking the systemic collapse of a budget where just 200 citizens shoulder 10% of the state’s revenue, to a blistering warning about the trillion-dollar loss triggered by the Billionaire Tax, this episode is a blueprint for restoring sanity and opportunity for the next generation of Californians.

Chapters

00:00 – The Gold Rush in Reverse: California’s Unprecedented U-Haul Exodus
00:51 – One Leader Away: Shaking the Policy Virus with Optimistic Conservatism
01:36 – Why Over Two-Thirds of Californians Think We’re on the Wrong Track
02:42 – Funding the Fight: Shifting PAC Dynamics and November Campaigns
02:54 – Activating the "Big Mo": How Media Momentum Unlocks Campaign Capital
03:51 – The All-County Landslide: Why Even Liberal Marin Voted for Prop 36
04:10 – An Unfunded Mandate: Exposing the Gov's $100 Million Slap in the Face
05:10 – The Bipartisan Budget Letter: Partnering with Moderate Senators to Find $400 Million
05:50 – Wasting Billions on BART, High-Speed Rail, and 911 Systems
06:17 – A Wasteful Spending Problem: Shifting the Blame off Revenue Shortfalls
06:32 – Horrific: Why the Billionaire Tax Risks Perpetual Budget Deficits
06:49 – Hyperspeed to Wreckage: Losing a Trillion Dollars and Four House Seats by 2030
07:54 – The War Hero’s Legacy: Fighting for Sanity from Huntington to San Diego

Connect with Tony Strickland

• Campaign Website: https://www.stricklandforsenate.com/
• X (Twitter): https://x.com/SenStricklandCA
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SenStricklandCA
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SenStricklandCA

Enjoyed the episode? Subscribe to our podcast, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and join the conversation on Instagram and LinkedIn with the hashtag #stateofgoldpodcast

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Guest:

Edward Ring, Fellow - California Policy Center

Guest Bio: 

Edward Ring is a prominent author, researcher, and leading voice on California's political economy, public infrastructure, and environmental policy. He is the co-founder of the California Policy Center, where he has spent decades publishing detailed analyses on state water policy, energy grid reliability, and forest management. Ring is the author of The Abundance Choice: Our Fight for More Water in California and numerous white papers that challenge Sacramento’s regulatory status quo. Known for championing free-market, solution-oriented alternatives to California's affordability and infrastructure crises, his work frequently provides a practical roadmap for restoring long-term sanity to the Golden State.

Show Summary

California spends over $4 billion a year on Cal Fire's wildfire prevention and response, yet the state’s wildlands continue to break into unprecedented catastrophes every single year. In this episode of State of Gold, host Jon Slavet sits down with policy expert Edward Ring for a bracing reality check on how well-intentioned environmental regulations unintentionally transformed our forests into massive tinderboxes.

Ring pulls no punches as he targets the state's narrative surrounding climate change, explaining that while Sacramento politicians use it as a catch-all excuse to mandate electric vehicles, the underlying culprit is a staggering fuel load crisis. Decades of hyper-efficient fire suppression—not supported by responsible forest thinning, grazing, or prescribed burns—have driven tree densities in the Sierra foothills to anywhere from three to ten times their historic baselines. Overcrowded and competing for identical pools of light, nutrients, and water, these stressed forest systems are structurally dried out and ripe for ignition.

The conversation pivots to a strategic masterclass on economic turnarounds. Ring details how California’s commercial logging has been systematically slashed by 75% over the last forty years, starving local economies and leaving millions of board feet of overgrown timber to rot. He breaks down the deep insurance crisis crippling homeowners, explaining how aggressive over-regulation from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) blocks controlled burns while leaving property owners exposed. From an unfiltered call to completely scrap the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to a roadmap for utilizing logged resources to build middle-class housing, this episode is a blueprint for letting common sense trend upward in California.

Chapters

00:00 – The $4 Billion Cal Fire Paradox: Spending More, Burning Worse
00:40 – Radical Fire Suppression: How Reversing Controlled Burns Built a Fuel Crisis
01:01 – Modern Forest Management: The Strategic Leg of Logging, Thinning, and Grazing
01:59 – Shifting the Board Feet: Tracking a 75% Systematic Collapse of California Timber
03:06 – Fact-Checking the Denominator: The Reality of 30 Million Acres of Overgrown Chaparral
04:18 – Catching Up on the Maintenance Rate: Overcoming Santa Monica Mountains Bureaucracy
06:29 – Federal Friction: Moving Republican and Democratic Levers for Long-Term Harvesting Contracts
07:43 – The Electric Vehicle Myth vs. Three to Ten Times Historic Tree Density
09:54 – Erasing the Emissions Gains: Catastrophic CO2, Soot, and Topsoil Sediment Squeezes
11:47 – Monocultures vs. Canopy Restoration: The Limits of Artificial Regeneration
13:13 – Reiterating CARB Pressures: Why Well-Intentioned Environmental Policies Trigger Disasters
14:20 – Half the Crisis: Reinsurance Cost Traps and the Defaulting State Plan
15:34 – Restoring a Risk Market: Chess Grandmasters, Reinsurance, and Free Market Principles
16:26 – Scrap CEQA Entirely: Why NEPA Frameworks Are Enough to Halt Third-Party Abuse
17:38 – Rapid Fire: The Most Misunderstood Aspect of Wildfire Policy and Peaking Irrationality

Connect with Edward Ring

• Twitter(X): https://x.com/edring/status/2052061868009914521
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edward-ring/

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Guest:

Jan Sramek, Founder & CEO - California Forever

Guest Bio: 

Jan Sramek is an urban visionary, entrepreneur, and the Founder and CEO of California Forever, the city of the future soon breaking ground in Solano County. Born and raised in Eastern Europe, Sramek moved to the United States with a deep fascination for America's historic capacity to execute monumental public works. After a successful early career in finance and technology, he relocated to California, where the structural failure of housing supply and the local infrastructure gap inspired him to pioneer a multi-generational model for community building. A champion of skilled labor, walkable urbanism, and advanced manufacturing infrastructure, Sramek has brought together elite capital partners, public policy experts, and historic labor coalitions to anchor a city of the future in the heart of Northern California. 

Show Summary

"We’ve gotten into this habit in California where everything takes twenty years. We came in with a distinct point of view: We have to find a way to do things faster," says Jan Sramek, the entrepreneur driving the most ambitious master-planned city development in modern American history. In this episode of State of Gold, host Jon Slavet sits down with Sramek for an exclusive look at the vision, mechanics, and economic framework backing California Forever.

Sramek walks through his initial shock upon landing in California, detailing how the visible homelessness of San Francisco's Market Street and the sterile office parks of Silicon Valley exposed a huge deficit. He shares the grueling timeline of moving a project from a raw, "batshit insane" concept to reality, explaining how he wagered his own personal solvency to complete initial feasibility studies before securing marquee capital backing from silicon valley tech titans.

The conversation pivots to a masterclass in large-scale logistics and planning. Sramek details the strategic layout of the Solano Foundry’s advanced manufacturing zone and the logic behind the multi-thousand-acre Solano Shipyard complex, designed to aggressively close the widening gap between American and Chinese naval shipbuilding. Sramek outlines his strategy for outmaneuvering traditional real estate speculation through a minimum-density "missing middle" housing plan, and how a European philosophy of public space over private isolation can solve the modern epidemic of social disconnection.

Chapters

00:00 – Preview: The 50-Year Economic Opportunity vs. Strategic Flaw Hunting

00:28 – Welcoming California Forever Founder & CEO Jan Šramek

00:48 – First 48 Hours: Bypassing Europe's Standards for California's Reality

01:44 – Fallow Expanses: Spotting Solano County’s Commuter Pain Points

02:23 – The Startup Leap: Pitching a City After a 70-Year US Drought

03:49 – Skin in the Game: Risking Personal Solvency After Back-to-Back Rejections

06:21 – The Elevator Pitch: Advanced Manufacturing and $500,000 Starter Homes

07:38 – Proving Demand: The 174,000 upfront Entitlement Volume Strategy

08:13 – Affordable by Design: Cutting Out the $1,200 Monthly Multi-Car Squeeze

11:01 – Bolting Community to Urban Form: Reinvesting in Shared Public Plazas

14:14 – Land Asset Realities: Why California Forever Is Not a Public Robinhood Vehicle

15:21 – Outmaneuvering the 20-Year Trap: Consolidating Plan Changes, Financing, and Zoning

17:34 – Sourcing the West Coast Base: Inside the Solano Foundry Complex

18:26 – Closing the Naval Shipbuilding Gap: The Strategic Bipartisan Shipyard

19:49 – Newport News Scale vs. Solano’s 7,500-Acre Coastal Blueprint

20:22 – Public-Private Frameworks: Re-Establishing Government Repair Hubs

22:07 – The Travis Protection Buffer: Adjusting Grids with Air Mobility Partners

23:11 – Sidewalk Footprints: The Dream of Naming Streets After Construction Laborers

24:46 – Permissive Design Over Star Subdivisions: Crafting Organic Neighborhoods

27:02 – Washington to Sacramento: A 70,000-Acre Matrix of Proximity

28:35 – Sourcing the Blue-Collar Belt: Organizing the Historical 40-Year PLA

31:20 – Replacing Closed Industries: Bringing 50,000 Jobs in 5 Years to Solano

37:43 – Speculation Guardrails: Setting Solano Resident First Dips on Waiting Lists

38:57 – Iron Curtain to Golden State: Reclaiming the 1990s Aesthetic of Optimism

39:24 – Rebuilding the Quarry Base: Skilled Plumber Compensation vs. Starbucks Management

40:52 – Private Wealth vs. Public Poverty: Maximizing the ROI of Public Playgrounds

Connect with Jan Sramek

• X: https://x.com/jansramek
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jansramek/
• Website: https://californiaforever.com/

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Guest:

Seema Mehta, LA Times Senior Political Reporter 

Guest Bio: 

Seema Mehta is a legendary political journalist who has covered California and national politics for the Los Angeles Times since 1998. For a generation, she has reported extensively on state houses, gubernatorial races, and presidential campaigns across the nation. Mehta is currently a fellow at the University of Southern California (USC) Center for the Political Future, where she teaches and mentors the next generation of journalists and political scientists.

Show Summary

How does a democracy function when the institutional referees covering state government begin to vanish? In this episode of State of Gold, host Jon Slavet sits down with veteran Los Angeles Times reporter Seema Mehta to analyze the profound structural transformations sweeping through modern media and California's fiscal architecture.

Mehta traces the multi-generational contraction of legacy print journalism, detailing the transition of the Los Angeles Times from over a century of Chandler family ownership, through corporate consolidation, to a billionaire owner whose initial newsroom investments have given way to deep cuts. The conversation explores how the loss of reporting bodies in state houses has coincided with a generational shift toward social media platforms like TikTok, eroding the era of shared, "trusted referees" in favor of partisan echo chambers like MSNBC and Fox.

Turning her focus to fiscal policy, Mehta breaks down the hidden complexities of the proposed Billionaire Tax. While signature gatherers outside grocery stores like Trader Joe’s and Ralph’s find easy success with simple "tax the rich" slogans, she notes the underlying hazard to a state budget with 8,000 families footing 25% of the state budget and less than 1% of taxpayers generating 40% of the total revenue. Finally, the two share a lighthearted yet resonant look at avoiding professional cynicism, with Mehta deploying a striking historical analogy to explain why mentoring next-generation students is the ultimate tool for renewing political idealism.

Chapters
00:00 – A Generation at the Times: Tracking California's Political Shifts

00:28 – From the Chandlers to Billionaire Cuts: The Shrinking of State House Reporting

01:22 – Ad Side vs. Edit Side: Navigating Advertorial Pressures in For-Profit Media

02:14 – The TikTok Shift: Fragmented News Demographics and the Loss of Trusted Referees

03:32 – The Monopoly Man Slogan: The Complicated Reality of the Billionaire Tax

04:28 – Volatile Math: Why Less Than 1% of Electorate Funding 40% of the Budget Is a Risk

05:00 – The Lady Bathory Analogy: Renewing Idealism via Next-Gen USC Fellowships

Connect with Seema Mehta 

• Twitter: https://x.com/LATSeema
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/seema-mehta-58232b2
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/latseema/

Enjoyed the episode? Subscribe to our podcast, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and join the conversation on Instagram and LinkedIn with the hashtag #stateofgoldpodcast

Connect with State of Gold

• X: https://x.com/realjonslavet
• Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stateofgold/about
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Guest

Paige Lambermont - Research Fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute

Guest Bio 

Paige Lambermont is a prominent energy policy analyst and researcher whose work focuses on grid reliability, optimal power resource allocation, and the technical integration of emerging technologies. A leading voice in nuclear power development and electricity infrastructure, Lambermont has authored definitive reports analyzing the structural intersection between massive artificial intelligence data demands and the national electricity infrastructure. Known for advocating a freedom-minded, private-capital approach to utility development, Lambermont works closely with research groups across the United States to examine state-level regulatory reform, renewable portfolio standards, and the economic feasibility of next-generation power systems. 

Show Summary

By 2030, the oncoming wave of artificial intelligence and high-tech data centers could consume as much electricity as 95 million American homes. In this episode of State of Gold, host Jon Slavet is joined by energy policy analyst Paige Lambermont to break down a looming infrastructure crisis and explain why California must reverse its decades-long ban on nuclear power plant development.

Lambermont exposes the stunning irony of California energy policy: The state relies heavily on importing power from neighboring grids, and overseas oil, while intentionally excluding stable base-load power sources like nuclear and large hydro from its net-zero energy goals.

The discussion dives deep into real-world economics and safety, with Lambermont dismantling historical PR panics surrounding Three Mile Island and Fukushima, and showing how France successfully secures and recycles its closed-cycle nuclear waste. From evaluating Germany’s catastrophic "energy transition" failure to outlining how consumer-regulated, off-grid utilities can protect small businesses from soaring $7 gas prices, this episode is a clear-eyed look at why a booming economy cannot survive on a low-energy diet.

Chapters

00:00 – The 95 Million Homes Stat: Sizing up the AI Data Center Power Surge

00:58 – Silicon Valley Irony: Categorically Banning Nuclear in Tech’s Capital

01:43 – The Accounting Game: Why California Imports 15% of its Nuclear Power

02:22 – Private Industry vs. Poured Concrete: Lowering the Regulatory Barriers

04:43 – Intentionally Breaking the Grid: The Distortion of Energy Subsidies

06:49 – Defining Work: Why There Are No Wealthy, Low-Energy Societies

08:35 – Exposing the Hypocrisy: Tanker Emissions and the Reality of Energy Imports

10:06 – $7 Gas Insanity: The Hidden Squeeze of California’s Fuel Taxes

11:43 – Recalibrating Safety: The Real Science of Meltdowns and Passive Measures

13:00 – The Ethics vs. Safety Panics: Germany’s Energy Transition Warning

14:38 – The French Model: Closed-Cycle Uptime and 80% Nuclear Base-Loads

15:46 – 18-Month Straight Runs: Explaining the 93% Capacity Factor

16:31 – NRC Standards: National Security, Sleepers, and Airplane-Strike Scrutiny

18:42 – Freedom-Minded Utilities: Tracking Best and Worst State Spectrums

19:47 – Rapid Fire: Prizing European Scarcity over Economic Productivity

View the report here:
https://www.independent.org/wp-content/uploads/article/2026/04/2026_04_cagf_nuclear.pdf

Connect with Paige Lambermont

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paige-lambermont-93aa32128
• Website: https://cei.org/experts/paige-lambermont/
• X: https://x.com/paigelambermont
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paigelambermont/

Enjoyed the episode? Subscribe to our podcast, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and join the conversation on Instagram and LinkedIn with the hashtag #stateofgoldpodcast

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• X: https://x.com/realjonslavet
• Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stateofgold/about
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stateofgoldpodcast/?hl=en
• Website: www.stateofgold.com

Guest:

Jay Donde, Co-Founder of the Briones Society

Guest Bio: 

Jay Donde is an attorney for a leading enterprise software company headquartered in San Francisco, and was previously an associate at the law firm of Morrison & Foerster, LLP. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley and Harvard Law School, and is a veteran of the Israel Defense Forces. He serves as the political affairs Vice Chair of the San Francisco Republican Party and as a delegate to the California Republican Party, and is Co-Founder and President of the Briones Society. His columns have been published in Bloomberg, City Journal, Wired, SFGate, and the Marina Times.

Show Summary

San Francisco is often portrayed as an electric-blue monolith—but underneath the surface lies a growing block of "closeted" conservative thinkers and independent voters who are deciding high-stakes local elections. In this episode of State of Gold, host Jon Slavet sits down with attorney and Briones Society Co-Founder Jay Donde to explore the changing ideological ground of California’s most famous progressive laboratory.

Donde dives straight into the "dirty little secrets" of San Francisco politics, mapping out how a modest block of 40,000 registered Republicans and tens of thousands of No Party Preference (NPP) independents have positioned themselves as a crucial swing constituency. Slavet and Donde evaluate Mayor Daniel Lurie's historic approval numbers and look ahead to the major fiscal battles he will face when standing up to the public sector unions.

The heat turns up as the team tackles the Billionaire Tax, breaking down why wealth taxes run completely counter to optimal tax theory by encouraging wealth migration. With startup founders and venture capitalists viewing the ballot measure as an "existential threat" that treats the state as a purely extractive mechanism, Donde details the looming threat of an innovation exodus. From calculating the technical math of a statewide Republican turnaround to a sensible framework for regulating artificial intelligence without fracturing the market into a patchwork quilt of fifty competing laws, this episode is an essential guide to restoring balance and sanity to California.

Chapters

00:00 – Preview: Deciding Swing Seats and Tech’s Breaking Point
00:20 – Co-Working Politics: Welcoming Jay Donde at Neon
00:48 – The Closet Conservatives: Unpacking San Francisco's NPP Voters
01:44 – Stigma or Survival? City Government as a GOP Recruiting Tool
02:44 – Mayor Daniel Lurie’s Approval Ratings
04:05 – Blighted Boundaries: Public Safety, Property Crime, and the Tenderloin
05:30 – Growing the Bloc: Pushing the City to the Center by 100 Votes
07:07 – Notching Wins: Rebuilding the Ground Infrastructure of the CA GOP
08:50 – The 400,000 Stat: Activating LA County's Unregistered Consensus
09:24 – Inverting Optimal Tax Theory: The Reality of Wealth Migration
10:04 – An Existential Event: How Founders View the Extractive State
11:53 – AI Policy: Why California Needs to Avoid the Legislative Gold Rush
14:09 – Patchwork Quilts vs. Federal Moratoriums on State AI Law
14:45 – Rapid Fire: Denuding Public Sector Unions and Politics as a Throttle

Connect with Jay Donde

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jay-donde/
• Website: https://www.brionessociety.org/

Enjoyed the episode? Subscribe to our podcast, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and join the conversation on Instagram and LinkedIn with the hashtag #stateofgoldpodcast

Connect with State of Gold

• X: https://x.com/realjonslavet
• Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stateofgold/about
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Guest

Tom Del Beccaro, Former California GOP Chair

Guest Bio

Tom Del Beccaro is an acclaimed author, speaker, and the former Chair of the California Republican Party. A veteran political strategist and attorney, he has spent decades navigating the unique landscape of West Coast politics. Del Beccaro is the author of The Divided States of America and a frequent national commentator on fiscal policy, regulatory reform, and constitutional law. Known for his tactical acumen, he was the last Republican chair to successfully qualify a citizens’ initiative on the California state ballot. He currently publishes extensively on economic policy, focusing on structural solutions to California’s affordability crisis and middle-class tax burdens. 

Show Summary

Del Beccaro pulls no punches regarding his 2016 Senate opponent, Kamala Harris, detailing what he calls a long-standing history of being unprepared and relying on political "kingmakers" like Willie Brown rather than executive acumen and hard work. Turning his sights to Gavin Newsom, Del Beccaro exposes a stunning vacuum of real-world management experience, noting that the Governor routinely fails to convene crucial legislative and private sector meetings to address massive structural catastrophes like the supply chain crisis, the Palisades, or the statewide insurance collapse.

The conversation pivots to a strategic masterclass on political turnarounds. Del Beccaro explains why trying to out-conservative opponents fails in California, arguing instead that Republicans must bypass the legislature entirely by placing discrete, solution-oriented initiatives directly into voters' hands. From a blunt financial reality check on BART’s $14 billion taxpayer bailout to a chilling forecast on how the proposed wealth tax will permanently drive away the state's core tax base, this episode offers a roadmap for restoring a competitive political marketplace in the Golden State.

Chapters

00:00 – Confronting Kamala: Lessons from the 2016 Senate Trail
01:50 – Kingmakers and Traffic Commissions: Kamala and Gavin
03:25 – The Management Vacuum: Why Gavin Newsom Doesn't Do Legislative Meetings
04:08 – Unaddressed Crises: From Supply Chains to the Insurance Collapse
05:42 – The Gate to 2028: Polling Weaknesses and the $1.3 Billion Donor Backlash
07:42 – Soft Ground: Adam Schiff and the Divisive New Era of the US Senate
10:31 – The Chairman’s Playbook: Winning California Through Discrete Initiatives
11:08 – Fixing the Pothole: How to Build a Comeback Without Home Runs
14:30 – Limiting the Spreadsheet: The Private Sector View on Bill Appropriations
15:33 – Funding Failure: Why BART and High-Speed Rail Won’t Recover Ridership
17:53 – A Tax Too Far: The Law of Demand and the 145,000 High Earner Exodus
20:53 – Rapid Fire: The Soviet Bread Shop, Human Ingenuity, and a State in Trouble

Connect with Tom Del Beccaro

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-del-beccaro-6359885/
• Twitter/X: https://x.com/tomdelbeccaro
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thomasgdelbeccaro

Enjoyed the episode? Subscribe to our podcast, leave a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify and join the conversation on Instagram and LinkedIn with the hashtag #stateofgoldpodcast

Connect with State of Gold

• X: https://x.com/realjonslavet
• Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stateofgold/about
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stateofgoldpodcast/?hl=en
• Website: www.stateofgold.com