12. Jason Saine, North Carolina House of Representatives

Hey, listeners, get ready for the rush. This fast-paced, funny, and very educational interview with Representative Jason Saine is our first podcast episode for 2024; and what a way to begin! As the Representative for the 97th North Carolina House District (Lincoln County, NC), Rep. Saine is serving his seventh full term in the North Carolina House. He was appointed by Speaker Tim Moore in 2019 to serve as a Senior Chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, which is responsible for preparing the state’s $32 billion dollar budget. He previously served as the Senior Chairperson of the House Finance Committee from 2015-2018 where Chairman Saine passed over $1 billion in tax cuts for working families across North Carolina. Rep. Saine was also the founding chair of the IT Appropriations Subcommittee and the IT Joint Oversight Committee, which has led sweeping reforms and advancements in state IT procurement and security policies.

But let’s talk about Jason, the person. As we get into the meat of the interview, you hear a man who is passionate about the good side of politics, who doesn’t use power, he understands it and makes it work like it should. Through it, he has propelled forward a common-sense approach to growth, business, finance, and relationships. As we began the episode, the speed at which we blew through what we like to call our “lighting round” set the stage for the rest of the interview. (Think light-speed.) And we quickly discovered that Representative Saine is a true, from-the-beginning-fan of Star Wars. It makes sense, then, that he is a disciplined and addicted gamer. Where he does his thinking and planning, and his passion for winning! And with only a few hours of sleep at night, he still seems to rise with dozens of new ideas and strategies he will implement in his endeavors to improve the lives of all North Carolinians. In reality? We could have interviewed him all day. 

What else is noteworthy in his list of accomplishments? Representative Saine currently serves as a member of the Federal Communications Commission Intergovernmental Advisory Committee (IAC). In this role he helps provide guidance, expertise, and makes recommendations to the Commission on a range of telecommunication issues for which local, state, and tribal governments explicitly or inherently share responsibility or administration with the Commission. He served four years as the North Carolina State Chair of the American Legislative Exchange Council before accepting a position as the National Chair of the organization in 2018 and he continues as a Board Member and collaborates with legislators across the United States to support model policies that advance limited government, free markets, and federalism. 

Strap-in folks for the wild ride with Rep. Jason Saine and the ever-curious Rob Nanfelt in this episode of Getting Real with Rob!