Mayor Alex Runagi said a new well in Fountain Valley will raise Laguna Beach’s local water reliability "from 0% local water reliability to around 66% in Laguna Beach," and described earlier fuel-modification work near the Rancho fire that required a lengthy permitting process.

"It took 3 years to get to the through CEQA and the Coastal Commission," Runagi said, describing the time and expense of approvals for fire-prevention work. He asked whether the state could permanently streamline permitting to allow local governments and state parks to do fuel modification more quickly. "Is that a source of bipartisan cooperation that you see in Sacramento?" he asked.

State Sen. Tony Strickland said he would "love to work on that" and expressed support for fast-tracking permitting for fire prevention. He criticized what he described as unaccountable boards and slow permitting, citing a ten-year permitting process for a Huntington Beach development he mentioned as an example. Strickland also said he will press for fuller funding of Proposition 36, which he described as widely supported but underfunded.

On housing, the conversation shifted to state mandates requiring cities to build more housing. Strickland argued those mandates can impose costs and infrastructure needs on cities without sufficient state-provided resources — citing traffic, water and fire-safety implications — and suggested incentives and fast-tracking in appropriate areas rather than a uniform mandate.

Strickland also criticized continued state expenditures on the high-speed rail project and said he would prefer redirecting roughly a billion dollars a year to "shovel-ready projects throughout the state." The podcast episode did not record any formal votes or commitments tied to implementation timelines; the speakers discussed legislative priorities and asked listeners with ideas to contact the senator's office.

The exchange combined local examples (well construction, fuel modification) with statewide policy arguments (CEQA streamlining, Prop 36 funding, housing mandates and high-speed rail spending), and closed with an invitation from Strickland for constituents to submit policy ideas to his office.