Chico Chamber 2026 Congressional Candidate Forum | Mike McGuire

As part of the Chico Chamber of Commerce’s 2026 Congressional Candidate Forum series, hear directly from congressional candidate Mike McGuire as he shares his background, priorities, and vision for the future of California’s North State.

To learn more about the Chico Chamber of Commerce and its work supporting local businesses and the community, visit the Chico Chamber of Commerce website.

👉 Watch the live video recorded episode here

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:05

Welcome to the 2026 Chico Chamber of Commerce Candidate Forum. Mr. McGuire, thank you for being here. It's good to see you. Thank you so much for allowing to be here. Absolutely. How's everybody doing? Good. Hey, that's what I was saying. There we go. It's a beautiful day right here on Main Street. That's right, 91. Yeah, that's right. Um, we're looking forward to talking to you a little bit more. Um, would you like to take us away?

SPEAKER_02 0:25

Perfect. Well, uh, I'll start by I'll introducing ourselves. So I'm Brandon Slater, Slater in Sun Construction, also on the board at the Chico Chamber of Commerce. So yeah.

SPEAKER_01 0:34

Thanks for all your work. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and also your work on homelessness.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

Oh, yeah, thanks. Look, you must have Googled me. No, it's it's impressive, truly.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Navigation center is tremendous. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 0:44

Right on. So uh my name is Mark Breckenridge, uh, local business owner here, Oregon. I also own a farm management company. Um, also Cheeker Chamber uh board member.

SPEAKER_03 0:53

I love it. Thank you. My name is Dorian. I'm a local business owner, yeah, chamber member. Uh, I was raised in Chico. I'm I'm a huge fan of this community, and I'm thrilled to be talking to uh some of the folks who make some of the big decisions around here. So uh thanks for the time today.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

Well, it's an honor to be with you guys. Thank you so much and for all your work and for having me in. I'm really excited.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you could just tell us a little bit kind of about yourself, like not as the politician, but like what do you do for fun? Like, you know, like yeah, just a little bit about maybe your family and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:24

Yeah, totally. Um again, I'm super thrilled. Thank you so much. So uh grew up on our uh family's ranch. Uh, we were prune growers and great growers forever. Um, mom and dad had a pretty damn bad divorce. Uh when my dad left for work, um, my grandma came and got us, and we never went back. Um and my grandma helped raise me. And I don't mean to get a little emotional. I mean, she is just she's been the driving force in my life and uh was always there when my mom and I needed her. She was literally our rock, and we would not have made it without her. I started working full time uh when I was 16, junior in high school. My mom expected me uh to go out and help pay the bills. I think everyone has their story of struggle. I know our family has ours. Erica and I live right next door to my mom. We moved my mom in next door four years ago, the best decision that we've ever made. Um, we have a five-year-old. Uh, his name is Connor. Uh, the first thing uh Erica uh TMI, and I apologize, Erica had a c-section. Um Connor has always been a little stubborn and he wasn't uh willing to flip. And so she had a c-section. And the first thing that the nurse said when he was born is he looks like a corndog. What the hell does that mean? That uh flipped me out. Um and that kid has uh the nickname of corndog for the rest of his life. Oh, okay. Um so he'll be going through therapy soon. He is the best thing that has ever happened to us. Uh we struggle getting pregnant, and uh it's just been amazing. And I'm sorry, get emotional about it. And um so he's now in TK. Um, he played soccer, he just uh finished up uh with T-ball. Probably not gonna be the best athlete in the damn world, uh, but what uh we are so thrilled. He just got the kindness award at school. Um and he is an empathetic, super kind kid. Um and the biggest stress right now, we live on an acre, is that we just got uh six turkeys, and my mom is pissed off about it. Um and I had turkeys growing up. Uh Connor's gonna do 4 H. I did FFA all throughout high school, and uh, we really want to get him at 4-H. And so um that has been the big drama uh where we live because Connor wanted turkeys, we got turkeys, um, and next we're getting pygmy goats. I had pygmy goats growing up, uh, pigs and sheep. And so uh my mom is just gonna be absolutely thrilled uh here in the coming months. So um, and what I do for fun, I hang out with Erica. Erica and I have been together, my wife and I have been together for 21 years uh this coming December. Um, the best thing that's ever happened to me in my life is my wife, she's amazing, like to play softball. I am a terrible softball player. Um, we've had our co-ed team for 22 years, um, and it's mostly for the beer and pizza afterwards. So uh, and I do a lot of uh gardening uh and working around the ranch in Erica, and Connor and I do a lot of walks. We like to camp. Um, so uh it's good stuff, and I feel really, really grateful uh for family in particular.

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Does your family still have the the ranch? The um the one acre.

SPEAKER_01 4:36

Yeah, we only have one acre. So um my grandma, we know where Connor gets his stubbornness, uh, is my grandma um was a stubborn prune grower and grape grower. And my grandma had a stroke, really bad stroke, and she didn't let anyone touch the ranch. Like this was her baby. It was 20 acres, it wasn't huge. And when she had her stroke, within a year, she said, we're done. And they sold the ranch, they moved up uh to a place called Clover Springs in Cloverdale, uh, retirement community. Um, and uh, you know, once that is gone, it's so hard to get back just because it's so expensive. What I have always loved is having uh my grandma just deeply involved in my life and in my mom's life, and that's what I also wanted for Connor. And um, again, the best thing that's ever happened is having Connor and now having my mom in literally next door. I mean, if you were to look, we're looking at there's a a wall, I don't know, about 15 feet away, and that's where her her house is, and it's just the friggin' best. Um, so yeah, I wish we still had it though. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:41

Yeah. So how's I mean, new to the area, um, you know, how's it how has it been so far um campaigning in the original district one?

SPEAKER_01 5:50

Yeah, uh look, I I feel incredibly grateful. And what I'm a big believer in is that you show up, you listen, and you deliver. And we've hosted now over 40 town halls uh in Sierra County, Plumas County, of course, right here in Butte County, into Hama County, Glenn County over in Mendocino and Lake and Sonoma. Um and I think that's what we need right now. We need someone who's gonna show up, put politics aside, and put people first. And what uh my biggest belief is is that helping people is the highest calling in life. And that's what I'm all about. And I also think it's important that you work with all sides. And so when you come to our town halls, we have Democrats and Republicans and independents and folks of all political stripes. And I think right now folks are hungry for change. I think folks are hungry for a more affordable life. I think that folks want a more wildfire, safe community. They want to be able to afford a home in the community that they love. They want to keep their hospital open. They want to keep their health care, they want to send their kids to a good public school. And that's what we've heard over and over again uh at these town halls. This isn't about campaigning for me. And if you're to talk to anyone in the Senate district that I currently work in, it's it runs from the Oregon border all the way down the Golden Gate Bridge, a million people, one of the largest uh rural districts here in the West, um, is that I show up and I deliver. And that's what we desperately need in government. And if someone's house is burning down, you don't ask if they're a Democrat or Republican, you ask how I can help, how we can help. And what I'm also a big believer in, there's more than you that unites us than divides us right now. And if you go talk to a Republican in Susanville or a Democrat here in Chico, I think they want to send their kid to a good public school. They want to keep their hospital open, they want to keep health care for their family, want, they want a more affordable life, they want to afford a home, and they want to live in a more wildfire-safe community. And that's what we need to focus on. We may vote for a different person for president, but that doesn't mean that we can work together to make our communities stronger, and that's what I'm all about.

SPEAKER_03 8:11

So, in the spirit of working together, showing up and listening, reaching across the aisle, what is something that your predecessor did that you will continue to champion?

SPEAKER_01 8:20

I think wildfire. Uh uh Congressman Lamalfa, God rest his soul, has been a champion for delivering for communities that have been impacted by wildfire. Um, he was phenomenal during the campfire. And I think we we saw that reputation be acknowledged by the Paradise City Council, who just named their chambers after Congressman Lamalfa in his honor and for the work that he's done. Um, and that's what you can count on. Look, in the California State Senate, I've led the way in the legislature on doubling the number of Calfire firefighters. We've gone from 6,700 Calfire firefighters nearly a decade ago to nearly 14,000 today. Um, that's what we need right now. We have put more fire engines on the road, not just here in the North State, but throughout uh the state of California. We put more airplanes in the sky. We have hundreds of additional wildfire detection cameras. We put in satellites into space. 30% of all wildfires in the state of California are being reported by our satellites before a 911 call comes in. That's what we need. We need to focus on wildfire resiliency, wildfire response, and candidly, we need to get upstream and on wildfire mitigation. $8 billion is what we've delivered as a state. I've been in the middle of all these discussions and these negotiations, securing these dollars to be able to make our communities more wildfire safe. Look, we can put every firefighter in the world on the ground, but we have to make our communities more wildfire safe, more wildfire breaks. We have to be able to do vegetation management, forest thinning around communities. That's what this is all about. It can't be a one-size-fits-all approach. Uh, and that's what I'll continue in that legacy.

SPEAKER_02 10:06

So you you you mentioned in there a bit just like the kind of polarization that we've seen in politics. And um, you also talked about, you know, kind of reaching across the aisle. And can you, you know, you've at least for the last uh relatively near uh past, uh, you've enjoyed a supermajority in uh the Senate, right? That's where, or no, what are you currently on? Yeah, in the California State Senate. Yeah, yeah. So kind of had the m majority of your own party. Like, can you give an example of something you've you've kind of had been able to been successful at reaching across the aisle and like you leave your party and go do something and say, Oh, actually, I like what those guys are doing. I'm gonna I'm gonna flop over.

SPEAKER_01 10:48

Hell yes. Look, I I think there's several examples. And I'm gonna give you an example of Trinity County. Um, look, the current Senate district that I represent, and I'm honored to work for, has three counties that voted for Donald Trump, four counties that voted for Kamala Harris. And again, I'm gonna continue to say what I said in the beginning. There's more that unites us than divides us. So let's just talk about Trinity County. Trinity County is incredibly rural. It's one of the poorest counties in the state, and it's one of the most wire wildfire-threatened communities, uh counties in the state as well. And Trinity County has not voted for me once, not once, uh in my decade in the Senate. But that's okay, because you need you go where the need is greatest. So my style is this you bring everybody together in one room to be able to hear the same thing, and you work towards a solution. And I grind. If there's disagreement, we work through the disagreements, you build consensus. That's the way progress sticks. The only way to make progress stick in life is to work together. So we brought every fire chief from across the county in the same room, talked about what you need, and we've secured the funding to be able to upgrade all the fire, uh fire department communication equipment throughout the county. Most are volunteer fire companies or fire districts. We bought brand new vehicle extircation equipment, which was three decades old. We rebuilt both high schools in the county, Hay Fork and Trinity Alps, working with the state allocations board after they're invested with black mold. Um, we uh implemented the first 24-7 emergency evacuation center in the county. Um, we built the first all-weather track with the funds that were invested by the state of California. And it's not because they're gonna support me in the next election. It's because that's where the need was greatest. And what I feel really frustrated, and I'll just be really candid about it. I think one of the reasons why Democrats uh lost to Donald Trump is because Democrats have forgotten about rural America. If you take a look uh at rural America and rural parts of this state, highest childhood poverty rates, jobless numbers, unsheltered homelessness, ACES scores, it's in rural parts of this state and rural America. And shame on the Democrats for doing that. I'm the first rural Democratic leader in over a century to lead the California State Senate. And I work uh with our Republican leader, Brian Jones, constantly. If you go and talk with him, he'll say that. We we get together, we talk about where we can work together, and let's talk about some of that. We've enhanced funding for rural schools in this state. We have rebuilt Decaying Schools, six billion dollars for rural broadband. Uh, I work with Ana Caballero, Lena Gonzalez, and the state senate. That's the largest investment in rural broadband in the United States of America right now. Six billion dollars that will connect our most rural communities in this state. Um, billions of dollars for new roads and bridges. So largest non-prison investment in a rural county in 50 years is the $380 million that was secured and invested to transition Humboldt State into Cal Poly Humboldt, the largest non-prison investment. And the other big piece is I'm a big believer in career training. Look, not every student is going to go on to a four-year college degree, that's fine. But what's not okay is if they're not prepared for the jobs of that county and the jobs of tomorrow. So right now, we're building out the largest healthcare career training facility in Northern California, up in Arcata, 30,000 square feet. It was an old elementary school that we're transitioning. Every healthcare tech, lab tech, site tech will be educated and then go to work in the communities that they live in. We're building a brand new career training academy in Willetz that will serve. We're going to build a brand new fire academy for Lake and Mendocino counties, a new construction core academy, a brand new lab tech academy for healthcare. That's what we need in the North State. And that transcends politics. Look, I don't care what your political affiliation is. Let's get some good work done. And to be able to do that, let's focus on the core issues that I think people care about. They want a more affordable life. They want a good job. They want to make sure that their kid is going to a good public school that's safe and modern. Broadband is like electricity these days. Rural folks are not going to be successful if they don't have broadband. Right? We need more of that. I can keep going. I'm sorry that's a good idea. No, that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:38

No, no, it's totally good. I was wondering if that's the we got a grant uh for the city that like put a bunch of broadband in Chapmantown. Correct. I'm guessing and now the city owns like a broadband company.

SPEAKER_01 15:48

I'm sure that came from the Golden State Network. I wouldn't be surprised. Yeah. And that's what we need more of. And that's, by the way, that's state money. Imagine if the federal government came in and matched that on what we could do. That's what transcends politics. And none of this is about being a Democrat, being a Republican. It's about improving the lives of people. And I think that we need more of that right now.

SPEAKER_03 16:11

And just on that point, it it's all well and good to not care what other people's political party is, but to the people who care about your political party, what's your strategy? What's your philosophy for bringing them in?

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Well, first of all, I would encourage folks to look at my track record uh and and take a look at what I've done and where I've done it. It's not in the wealthiest communities, it's in the communities of greatest need. Take a look at the projects that I champion. It's projects about uh developing good jobs and careers, it's about modernizing our schools, it's about saving our local hospitals and our health centers. It's about investing in infrastructure, wastewater, water, it's about investing in homelessness and making sure that we're investing in housing. It took everything that my wife and I had, plus some, to be able to afford to live in the community that I grew up in. That's shameful. And that's why I have been so focused on making it easier to be able to build housing. You know, here in the state of California, after uh one of the deals that we worked and negotiated with the speaker uh and the governor, is you can now build a home, a housing development, 20 acres or less infill in any community by right. You don't go to a planning commission, you don't go to a city council, you don't go to a board of supervisors. You can do it by right. That's gonna knock three to five years off the approval process of housing. If we're serious about housing in our communities, then we gotta build it.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

Don't you have to either sign a PLA or agree to union only workforce to qualify for that?

SPEAKER_01 17:50

Not at all.

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Um the what's what Senate bill is that? Or what uh do you do you know by all that?

SPEAKER_01 17:57

AB 130. Maybe 130. Yep. It was passed last year.

SPEAKER_02 18:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:01

Yeah. So it's it's a literally 20 acres or less by right. But the language I think you're referring to is on any um apartment uh i it it's any apartment that's six stories or up. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 18:16

That could be yeah, you know, you talk about uh being able to afford things, you know, being being able to for a house where you grew up in. Fuel prices. Crazy. State of California. And you know, a lot of people, you know, our governor blame Chevron, we blame this, we blame this. You know, we've got the the largest, I believe, tax on fuel in the nation. Why do we have that? What can you do to help solve this issue that everyone's going through every day? I mean, it's not the war uh in Iran or this, it's like we've got the highest gas prices. How do you see to fix that?

SPEAKER_01 18:53

I'm gonna challenge you a little bit on the war in Iran, because I do think it's partially the war in Iran, but you are spot on in regards to we have some of the highest uh prices in gasoline in the United in the United States. And as we all know, passed by the voters, uh it goes to uh road construction, highway construction, and bridges. Um the gas tax is the largest funder of public infrastructure in the state of California. The way that Butte County pays for um highways, bridges, overcrossings, the vast majority of the dollars that are coming back to communities to be able to fill potholes, to be able to pave streets, uh, are coming from the gas tax. I'm not saying that it's popular. I'm just the the that is where the bulk of the dough is coming from uh for public infrastructure projects related to road improvements. Now, on the war in Iran, the reason why I bring this up, the war in Iran is costing taxpayers right now $2 billion a day. This is not a war that any of us asked for. It's incredibly impopular. Candidly, I think it's an illegal war. And these aren't my figures, the government's figures. It's costing the average American consumer a buck fifty more per gallon uh today across the United States of America than it did 120 days ago. And it is because we've taken a billion uh barrels of crude oil out of the world's supply. Um, and it's the biggest shock to the energy market that we have had in the modern history of this planet.

SPEAKER_05 20:29

But with that, I can still go across the border to Reno and get gas for two dollars cheaper than I can here. So I mean, you know, we can blame that. I I'm just looking, I live here in California. I want to know how we can get our fuel prices down as a farmer myself, you know, whether it's diesel on the tractor or you know, you know, fuel or gas in my truck, you know, how how are you gonna help, you know, alleviate that, I guess.

SPEAKER_02 20:52

Also on that, why is diesel so much more than gas? Like I don't feel like that's been I think it's less processed and like it should take less effort to um I'm I I just don't know.

SPEAKER_01 21:02

I'm yeah I I think it's twofold. Look, the the number one driver, if you take a look at state gas taxes, it's going back to local infrastructure. That's the honest to God truth. So there's two ways to be able to resolve that. You can do a gas tax holiday. But what I continue to hear from is local governments is that they need more money for roads. They need more money for bridges. There's not enough to go around. And with all the federal highway cuts uh that's coming from the Trump administration, it's only gonna get worse. And let's not ignore that on average it's a buck fifty more per gallon because of the war. That's the honest God truth. Uh but I hear you in regards to the high taxes on state gas, but there's a trade off. How are we gonna fund local infrastructure? I'd be interested to hear from y'all. And I think that if you talk to your city councils, I think if you go and ask uh neighbors, they want more money, not less, into fixing potholes, into fixing highways. Um, we've invested more over the last 10 years uh in infrastructure than almost any state in the Union, which also brings really good jobs to um uh to uh our communities. But as long as we're on the issue of uh high costs, let's talk about high costs and being a farmer. Um because of this war, fertilizer is up $100 a ton this year compared to last. Because of the tariff costs, uh the average American, their cost of living is costing $2,400 more this year compared to last year. Because of these ridiculous tariffs that President Trump has advanced. Cars are up 15 percent, farm vehicles are up 16 percent, coffee is up 10 percent. Let's talk about health care, the Affordable Care Act. Because President Trump cut the subsidies of the Affordable Care Act, the average American who is on the Affordable Care Act is now spending $1,500 more this year than they did last year. $2,400 more this year compared to last because of these ridiculous tariffs, $1,500 more because of the ACA, and please check my receipts. And the last thing I'll just say is let's take a look at the chaos for the ag industry. The number one importer of nut crops and rice is Asia for California rice and nuts. Canada is the top importer of California wine. They didn't just put uh tariffs onto our wine, they took $1.2 billion off the shelves. It is absolute chaos. And it is because of a vanity project of one individual that is failing, and it is making our lives more expensive. Um 15 percent uh lumber, steel, and building materials compared this today compared to last year. And it is all because of the tariffs. And so here's where I think that we should go if we really want to drive affordability for the average American, is we're the only industrialized nation in the world that doesn't provide health care. We're also the only industrialized nation in the world where 520,000 people go bankrupt because of unpaid medical bills every year. That is shameful. And by the way, you want to talk about affordability because of the tax cuts that have gone for billionaires, $2.2 trillion that billionaires now are getting tax cuts for. Um President Trump has cut a trillion dollars out of Medicaid. That means three million Californians will lose their health care next year, mid-2027. In this congressional district, 42 percent of the entire population, 42 percent are on Medicaid. Right down the highway from us in Oroville, 85 percent of their payer mix of patients come from two sources, Medicaid and Medicare. And it's all because we gave Donald Trump gave billionaires tax cuts, and we had to pay for it somehow. And so now the American people, millions will lose their health care. And it's gonna close six to ten hospitals and health centers in this state next year.

SPEAKER_02 25:41

What's your what's your take on or right here? I have this I have this theory on uh I I participated and helped uh a local uh sales tax initiative um a couple years ago, and and uh what uh one thing I realized is that you know, property tax used to, you know, I I don't know where who who came up with the one percent uh goes to property tax, and it used to take care of all the you know all the things. And then over time, uh things got more expensive. Um and it at least it feels like this is my theory at least, um, is that like the regulations have outpaced inflation, and like the difference between that is kind of left up to, you know, I kind of see it as it's like us locals had to um basically pass a sales tax just to kind of pick up that that difference of regulation. And I just wanted to get your thoughts on like I mean, specifically, I think like environmental things in California, and it's like what where do you land on like environmental things? At least from my perspective, I feel like we've we've gone a little too far on you know, every uh, you know, on like all the all the things that we prevent from happening. It's like the balance of infrastructure and building and doing things versus protecting the environment. Just like where are you at on that?

SPEAKER_01 27:03

Well, I I think on the property tax piece, it was passed by voters back in 1978-79, proposition 13. And that's cap property taxes. And I support that, and I don't support amending Prop 13, it needs to stick. And it has helped keep folks in their home. The number one nest egg that um that Californians have is their is their home. Um, and so uh just like anything, and all three of you run a business, your costs go up from 1979, 45 years ago, 46 years ago, to today. But we've capped property taxes.

SPEAKER_02 27:36

Oh, yeah. So that's part of the delta.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

So um, I mean, that's that's part, and I support it, right? On the issue of the California Environmental Quality Act, let's talk about what we did last year. You can literally build 20 acres of single-family housing without CEQA, without an EIR, an environmental impact report. Twenty acres of infill housing. It's on the books right now. Um, you don't need an environmental impact report. It's by right. That development no longer goes to a city council or a board of supervisors or a planning commission. That's been incredibly controversial. I'll just be really blunt with you about that. But we also have a housing shortage. And young people can't afford to live in the state that they grew up in. The reason why we didn't do greenfield development outside of a urban growth boundary of city limit is because we should be building um looking inward, my belief. And if you look at Gridley, for example, there's an enormous amount of room to grow within the city limits that they've established right here in Butte County. Um so what we've also done is we've expanded what you can do for fire breaks without getting an environmental impact report. We've gone from 100 feet to 200 feet uh just last year. You can now build a food bank without an environmental impact report. You can now build um a new health center without uh new without an environmental impact report. You can uh build uh a new large childcare center without an environmental impact report. If you have a dead or dying mall in your community and you you dedicate 50% of that dead and dying mall to housing, you can build by right. You can build a forplex by right in the state of California right now. If you have an empty lot and you wanted to build a duplex, a triplex, or a foreplex by right, you want to transition your home to a duplex, triplex, or forplex, you can do it by right, which means you don't have to get approval from the local uh city council or the board of supervisors. We have made incredible strides in housing, but let me just say this. If you take a look at our economy right now, and if you looked at our economy over the last 10 years, California's economy has grown by 80%. It is one of the fastest growing economies in the United States of America. We're the number one economy in the United States of America, fifth largest in the world, number one for manufacturing, number one for agriculture, number one for AI, number one for tech, number one uh school uh post-secondary school system in the United States of America. Do we have challenges? You're damn right we do. Um, but we also grew 92 percent of all jobs in the United States of America in the last 12 months came from the State of California. 92 percent. And so I am committed to be able to tackle these issues. That's why uh we are making it easier to be able to build housing. That's when we passed Proposition One. We have to get more behavioral health and addiction beds in the communities that we live in. People are not feeling the reduction in homelessness. Have we reduced homelessness in the state year to year? Yes. People aren't feeling it. And we got to do better. That's why you're gonna see literally over 30,000 new day program slots and beds that will be invested thanks to the California voters who's passed proposition one. That has been a passion of mine. And the last thing I'll just say on that is when I was first elected to uh the California State Senate in Humboldt County, they had 16 behavioral health beds. 16. And Humboldt County's uh a bit smaller than Butte. Today, 130. We're about to break ground on a brand new behavioral health and addiction wing at Mad River Hospital, 42 beds. We have already broken ground and we're about to open a brand new youth center uh so that you're not transitioning transitioning youth who have psychosis out of the county. That's what we need. And I also want to say thank you for your commitment. And I've actually, and I know this may sound a little weird, I've followed uh what you and the family have done, um, but it's true. It is a passion for me. Addiction runs in my family, and we have to do better. And the only way that we're gonna do better is by meeting this moment in the communities that we live in. We have to have more behavioral health beds, we have to have more day slots, we have to do, we have to focus more on addiction. And that is what is so critical, and that's why uh I have a bit of an uncanny, a little non-traditional approach to Congress. Same thing that I did in the state senate. We've delivered three billion dollars in state investments in the Senate district that uh I currently represent, one of the most rural districts in the state. And I fight for every community and tackle the tough challenges um that we're we're facing. Like the Warren decision. Whoever is going to be this next um member of Congress should be knee deep in partnering with the chamber, partnering with the Chico City Council, the Board of Supervisors on what that post-warn decision um strategy looks like.

SPEAKER_02 32:56

I was stoked to uh see a 7-0 council vote. It's like, you know, something that was potentially controversial. And uh yeah, we we had a lot of, you know, talked about it a bunch, and kind of everybody got on the same page, and it was great to we had a whole bunch of uh things that went to council a few weeks ago, and it was great to see a 7-0 vote of saying, hey, these are after post-war, and this is these are some new rules we're gonna have and how we're gonna roll it out, and kind of balancing that compassion with accountability. And um, anyways, I was I was pretty stoked to that. It is cool. So back to the uh is it SB1 is the uh the mental health thing a prop one, yeah. Prop one, prop one. So what I've heard is that a lot of the funding got pulled from like some service and put into that.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

Is that because it um uh a lot of the new grants are focused towards permanent housing, right? And getting folks into uh more permanent housing. Because what all the data suggests is that if folks uh if an individual is unstable with their housing, uh their chance of um recidivism, if you will, using again uh is greater. And as we all know, and I'll just say in my family, you know, I've had family members who have relapsed with addiction with methamphetamine five, six times. And it takes time. Um but what we desperately need right now are more permanent uh beds and day slots in the state. And it also has to be paid for with Medicaid, right? And that's the other concern that I have is that Medicaid, that federal funding is at risk because of these cuts as well.

SPEAKER_05 34:38

But it seems like California, we throw billions and billions of dollars at the homeless issue every year. And it's I feel like, and I, you know, I it's other people I've talked to, that it feels like nothing's getting solved with it, and we just continue to throw money at it. Um so what is a solution? What is you know, kind of you know, you you've you've been there, what is the solution?

SPEAKER_01 34:57

I think that the solution is number one, um, look, I've lost 10,000 homes. I've seen 10,000 homes in the Senate district that I work in lost, and I know folks have uh seen the same thing here. And you gotta be open and blunt about it. This is not a quick fix. Should have never been uh portrayed as a quick fix. You're literally dealing with humans who are on the street who are dealing with psychosis, addiction, or dual diagnosis. And it takes an enormous amount of time. And so what I think the solution is number one, any time that there is challenging news, you should be straight up and blunt and transparent and tell someone what the truth is, even though it may not be something they want to hear. Um, we're about year five into I think a 10-year um uh uh change in homelessness. It takes time to get these units, these wraparound services built operational, and folks in them. Um but again, I'll I'll use the county that I live in. The county that I live in is seeing a 23% decrease year to year in homelessness. 23% It's because we have state money, it's because the cities and the county are all working together for one mission is to get folks off the damn streets. Get them into treatment and get them into housing. And that's what we need right now. And again, I'm gonna go back to Humboldt County. Probably one of the more controversial issues that we dealt with. Five years worth of community meetings. There were a few community meetings where there were 700 folks at the Sequoia Conference Center where the Humboldt County Office of Education was, bringing in experts to talk about solutions. But it's taken us five years to secure the funding to even get to 130 beds. And that final bed of the 130 won't be completed until late 2027, early 2028. So I think what you will always have in me is I'm always gonna be brutally honest, truthful, transparent about the challenges that we have. And I'm gonna work like hell to secure the funds that we need to be able to build the resources here in Butte County and throughout the North State. But I think it's also about expectation setting in the beginning. And when you're dealing with such a challenge as homelessness, look, you know this, your family knows this, you've seen this, you've invested in it. It is one of the toughest issues that we have. Correct?

SPEAKER_02 37:51

Yeah. So on the topic of kind of being blunt, and something I've seen that I feel like we've been trending the wrong direction in is like there's uh amongst the homeless communities and and folks that are on the street, there's this kind of like lawlessness trend. Uh, and it's a kind of like a free-for-all, and like the that just I just feel like California's gone again a little too far on um the too far in the compassion direction, uh, as far as just like, oh, people can, you know, uh the I heard somebody say it the other day and I uh it resonated with me was you can you you can die on the streets with your rights on uh kind of thing. Of just um, you know, there's there's a lot of folks out there that are, you know, the homeless advocates, which I consider myself one of them, but they're just they're they're fighting for like the rights. And I I I personally I just think that like we've gone way too far in this direction of like thinking that those these folks that are living on the streets that have drug uh issues, mental health issues, that they uh that they have you know they have the capacity to make good decisions for themselves. And like whether it's conservatorship or whatever it is where people can come in and say, no, you need to follow some rules, and you need you know, and if the government is gonna take care of you, like you have to follow some rules or or go to jail. I mean, that's the other thing I don't really think was a great idea a few years ago. We let like you know, a whole bunch of people out of prison. I I also think that um and I'd love to hear your thoughts on on that, but it seems like some of these folks that are on the street uh really probably belong back in prison too. Um so, anyways, there's a lot that I just started ranting on.

SPEAKER_01 39:37

Uh it's good. Look, um, and I appreciate this conversation, it's really important. So I'm gonna go back to what I said in the beginning when we started talking about homelessness and talking about addiction um and behavioral health. People are not feeling the change. And we can say what the truth is is that we're seeing a year-to-year decline. People don't feel it until people feel it. That means we're not making progress. Just being honest about it. And it is shameful that there are so many people on the streets of this state and in this country, and it's um bad for the human that's on the street, it's bad for the business community and the community at large. So uh there is also not a one size fits all approach that's gonna fix this. And just throwing money at it is gonna fix it. So, number one, we have um we've toughened up our conservativeship laws in the state about two years ago. Um, we've had some of the loosest conservativeship laws in the state, uh in the country. Um we've toughened those up so that uh an individual who is having significant behavioral health challenges, psychosis, potentially addiction, uh, can be conserved. Um we pass laws uh that has uh stiffened up retail theft across this uh across this state. I think the bottom line is we have to get more services in the communities. We have to. So and I think it's a layer of challenges. Got the navigation center, which is so incredible. We what we've also done in communities that I currently work in with the Senate, um, we have different layers. So you got a navigation center, then you have homes, 10 beds, that is like a 60 to 90 day hold. Then you do a step-up facility that um have some potentially lock rooms, some not, for longer stays. Then you have a behavioral health wing in some counties that keep individuals behind locked doors. Uh, the reason why I bring all this up is not to um belabor this point, but I also think there has to be different layers of treatment and candidly approach to be successful. And that's why I don't think we should say that this is gonna get resolved in a year, because it's not.

unknown 42:15

I agree.

SPEAKER_01 42:16

And we got a ton of work to do post-war. Don't you all think? I mean, there's a ton of work to do, and we got to get resources deployed. Um, and that's what I'm absolutely committed to do. And the other piece, and I'll just end it right here, is this I really do believe that people want to hear the truth. They may not be happy about it, but they want to hear the truth. Don't BS people and bring people together for a solution. So, what we did in Humboldt is this we brought all sides of the community together. The county, behavioral health department, cities, business, homeless advocates, all at the same damn table. It was tough in the beginning, be honest. And it took some time to get consensus. But look where we're at now. That's what we need. And that's what I also look at is uh is our office is not just if I'm lucky enough to be able to work for each of you and work for Butte, is not just a convener, developing the long-term roadmap for success. And I'm gonna say it again, this is what my my grandma taught me growing up. Three things. You gotta work hard, gotta be the hardest working person in the room. I'm a staunch, staunch believer. The only way to make progress stick in life is by working together. And you never give up. And especially when times are tough or issues are difficult. But you gotta tell people the truth about how long it's gonna take and tell them what the damn plan is. And I think that's what we need. And y'all, you know better than I. But I think people want a plan, and people um will be accepting if they know what that plan is and that there are resources behind it, and that there's a broad coalition that's actually going to push for it. Am I please what your thought is on it?

SPEAKER_03 44:14

I totally agree. I think the broad coalition and bringing everybody together and hard work is the only way we make progress. Um I I want to make sure I kick it to Mark because I feel like you've got thoughts on that as well. No, go ahead. Okay, okay. I think also that, you know, and and as we sort of wind down this podcast, I want to know a little bit more about how you will maintain a presence here in Butte County to people who may feel that, you know, we've had a representative who was local and now we have a representative who may live a little further away. How will you make sure that your presence is felt here and that we feel represented with you in office?

SPEAKER_01 44:53

We've hosted over 40 town halls. Tell me if anyone's done that in the last decade here in the North State. I was in Sierraville, where we hosted a town hall. Sierraville's a town of 350, currently represented by Kevin Kiley. Never shown his face in Sierraville. I go, I show up, I listen, and I deliver. We've hosted three town halls in Plumis County. Three. We've hosted three town halls in Susanville. We were in Willows. Will those continue once you're if you're elected? That's that's a question because Oh yeah, that's that's all I do. Like I am a big believer in communication, but this is this is literally how I work. This is how I work. Um we take on tough issues, we bring people together, and then we go and secure the resources to be able to bring that change to the community. Um and what I would say is look at my track record on the North Coast. We've been able to secure the three billion dollars in investments because we have a plan. We developed the plan with people. When um Northern Mendocino and Southern Humboldt County fire chiefs needed new fire engines, we secured 10 of them with state funds. Ten brand new type six engines. When folks said we needed to be able to build out our own healthcare workforce, it took us about four years, but we started a Bachelor's of Science and Nursing program at Cow Poly Humble. We're building out the largest healthcare education hub. I go where the need is greatest. Um, and that's my track record. This is when I say this is not about a campaign, um, and I know it may be hard to believe, um, but this is literally how I work. And I can't tell you the number of folks uh in Eureka, for example, who thought I lived there. Because I show up, I go to every damn crab feed and pasta feed, I do charity auctions, um, I I'm an auctioneer, I don't have any time on that. I go to nonprofit events, I show up at county fairs, I go to local fairs, I'm in parades, I go to lions clubs, rotary clubs. If there are chamber dinners, I go, I I did last year the Arcata um uh chamber dinner auction. I mean, that's what I do.

SPEAKER_02 47:29

I made the mistake of accepting an auctioneer uh position. How do you know? Uh well they keep asking. Everybody now is like, oh, you gotta I'm like, uh no.

SPEAKER_05 47:39

We're gonna hold you accountable because uh we're always looking for auctioneers. Can we get off it stuff? So you can get it. Yeah, yeah. We'll have your phone call.

SPEAKER_02 47:48

We can't leave without uh talking at least real quick on water. I mean, uh you know, farming is just such a huge, it's a lifeblood of number one industry in you know, in this area. Yeah. And you know, yeah, what's your thought on water infrastructure, you know, sites reservoir? What's your you know, thoughts on that? It's been, you know, it's 15, 20, 30 years into making it.

SPEAKER_05 48:09

I think it started in 1979, was it first approved? Yeah, and uh 50 years. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:14

Well, and and here's one cool thing. City of California has put a few billion in, Donald Trump has put a few billion in. And this is one area we can agree on. So I'm gonna go north of us and talk about Shasta for a moment. Uh, and then I'd like to talk about sites, if that's okay with you all. Yeah. Uh and I know we need to, we're wrapping up. So on Shasta, so we implemented this thing called uh FIRO at Lake Mendocino. Um, it changes the way we release uh water, especially during storm conditions. We've been able, working with the Army Corps of Engineers, it's an Army Corps of Engineers uh reservoir, to save 11,000 acre feet a year by simply changing the release manual at Lake Mendocino. We need to do that in Shasta, up at Shasta. I think we could probably save at least 20,000 acre feet of water simply by changing our release manual. And what that means is the Army Corps of Engineers released the same amount of water, no matter if it was a dry as hell or the wettest of wet years. That was just ridiculous. And it sounds like common sense, but it takes some time working through the feds to get it done. So I think we need to move forward on that immediately. I support the sites reservoir. I've taken some crap for supporting the sites reservoir. Uh, I've helped secure some of the funding for the sites reservoir. Um sixty percent of California's water supply comes from snow melt. 60%. Over the last half century, uh, we've lost a third of that snow melt due to the climate crisis. Not my numbers, but as the feds, a third. We have to become more reliant on peak surface flow capture, meaning we're gonna need reservoirs. It's not a one-size-fits-all approach, but what sites is it captures peak flow. It's not reliant on snow melt. And we need it. Number number three. Um, we need more direct injection of the underground aquifer. Orange County has been masterful of this. They take uh treated wastewater up to reverse osmosis, they inject it in underground aquifer, does two things. Number one, it stops saltwater intrusion down there for them, uh, but then it also helps to replenish the aquifer. I think we're gonna need to look more at that, especially within agricultural regions. We also need to do more storm capture and regional capture. Like if you look at Glenn County and the subsidence that Glen County has seen, it's significant. It's feet of soil of subsidence. Residential wells are going dry, agricultural wells are having to go deeper than ever before. Um, and we need to be able to look at additional direct injection of the underground aquifer of additional regional suppliers as well. Um, so water is a real passion of mine. It's something that um I'm very focused on, and I would be honored to be able to work uh with the farming community on this. It is the lifeblood. I think it's something you all push back, about one in every five or six jobs here in Butte County. Um, and without a healthy agricultural economy, our communities wouldn't be what they are today. Um, and you'll have an advocate in me with that.

SPEAKER_02 51:29

Cool. Well, I think uh we're getting uh about over time here. So any last thoughts before we uh send you on your way? I'd love to come back. Okay. Hey, and I'd be gonna we're gonna push you up on that.

SPEAKER_01 51:45

That's right. But I'm really, really grateful, y'all. I'm so appreciative of this opportunity, and I would be honored to work with you. And thanks so much for taking the time and allow me to do this.

SPEAKER_04 51:54

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 51:55

Thank you for being here. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 51:56

Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you so much. Thank you. Hey, thank you so much, thank you, thanks, you guys.

SPEAKER_03 52:01

Thank you. Amazing. Uh, and that concludes uh this episode of the 2026 Chamber of Commerce Gary Foundation. Thank you. I didn't have a fire.

SPEAKER_00 52:08

There we go. Thanks, everybody. Thank you so much.

unknown 52:10

Thank you.