nation's large e utility has filed for bankruptcy. lawmakers are pushing for change. next lus, a look ahead at week's state of the union speech, amid a dividedg ernment in washington, and the rising prominence of bay area lawmakers in congress. ch oakland cg hollywood's attention with the oscars around the corner. we'll look at how movies with oakland roots have become big hits. hell and welcome. we begin with a high stakes bankruptcy of pg&e, on tuesday the utility giant filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy. tens of billions of dollars for deadly california wildfires in 2017 and 2018. t this second time in less

than 20 years in a pg&e has declared bankruptcy. in a statement pg&e expects no disruption in services and it will keep helping wildfire afected communities recov rebuild. but the bankruptcy filing now puts on hold lawsuits filed by wildfire victims who could wait years before getting paid. stay lawmakers are w seeking ways to have more control over what happens next. joining me now to discuss all of this are kqed politics and government reporter marissa lagos and jerry hill, he chairs the se subcommittee on gas, electric and transportation safety, and mark tony, executive director at term, the utility , reform netwoelcome to you all. marissa, this bankruptcy filing leves a lot of people in legal limbo. what's going to happenilwith liy payments to wildfire victims? >> that's the $30 billion question right now. it's the amount of liability

outstanding. that's what we'll watch here at kqed and others, is how much do these folks ge a sea at the table. we know that's not inherently the structure in bankruptcy creditors are first in line and concerned with basically bringing the company out of bankruptcy. that's the way the law is structured. i get the sense that things fey be dnt this time. we saw on friday the governor sent a letter to the u.s. trustee in charge of creating those committees asking that rate payers be considered as parts of those committees, not the case in the first pg&e bankruptcy. >> hoping theyon't fall in the ack of the. >> yeah. he's aware of the situation here, already let public comment happen, which is not something that ever happens in courtrooms, bankruptcy or no i would assume he's a pg&e rate pay a san francisco paced judge and i think that he's well aware of the public discussion hereth so i thinke's going to be -- it's going to be up to

people like mark tony and senator hill and also the wildfire victims and their lawyers to make sure that they don't get forgotten. key partthink that's a of the discussion already. >> senator hill, you've been a fierce critic of pg&e ever since the san bruno explosion in your district. what would you like to see happen in the expe ed restructuring of pg&e? >> i think the main thing in the restructuring and at the end of the day as it comes out of bankruptcy court, we want to make sure the ratee p are protected, we want to make sure the victims have the compensaon they need toget their lives back in order and that the contracts with labor are preserd too. but i think what we have to look at carefully is the conclusion i came to before early o was that they're just too big to succeed. they're very cumbersome, bureaucratic organization, they don't -- o end doesn't know what the other end is doing. we've seen evidence of tha over the years. restructuring can perhaps break them up into a gas and electric division, that's been said a

lot. >> unions have made it clear they don't want to see it broken up into little pieces. what do you think of all this, mark tony, done they to be broken up? i think. >> i think the most important thing right now is that there needs to be new leadership at pg&e and needs to happen really ckquy. a federal court judge has the opportunity to appoint a receiver, which is what we're recommending to take charge of the company, make sure that the safety regulations are being carried out so that we can stop more wildfires from happening. >> i should point out that judgealsop is the judge overseeing the probation caseou of the san bruno explosion. is that really theest option? you have said that you thought pg&e should declaretc bankr that that was the best option. >> it's the best option for them. this is the bankruptcy out of convenience, not of necessity. bankruptcy for them will provide them the opportunityo

restructure and really they come out the winner and we come out the loser. but it may be the opportunity for us to look at some icpportunities for pupower as they're in bankruptcy. there may be some municipalities that are interested in purchasing theirinfrastructure, san francisco shows an interest, san jose. i heard other cities are interested as well. that may be a determinant. >> that does g to the big challenge here which is that, you know, the procurement of the power isot the problem. right? pg&e has been up front or he sing theate get to its climate change goals. we know infrastructure the challenge here, that is both most expensive part of really their sort of operation, their capital operation there,ut it's also the part that we've seen fail repeatedly. d so whoever takes that over, whatever the company or a co-op or publictility looks like they're still going to have these deferred maintenance problems,these challenges with just the size of it. and so, i mean, what i think is really interesting is how the

conversation is changing. some ways jerry hill's been out by himself kind of screamini into the in san bruno and the capital and there's been a lot of deference topg and i think that has shifted and i think you've seen the sort of way that lawmakers and this new governor are approaching this. gavi newsomeis one to watch, it's different. >> how much power do lawmakers have in this? you don't really have a say in the bankruptcy proceeding. how do you ensure that you have a voice in what emerges out of this, in whatever shape or form do&e might be? >> we have a say at the end. as the public utilities commission has to approve any reorganization or structuring oa rate structures put into place after this, we as legislators can,hrough statue, kind of direct the puc and take some of that authority ourselves and perhaps approve whatever the restructuring plan is at the end. i think that's where the legislature needs to exert itself. i'm planning to do that. >> you mentioned the judge

in a r, and judge allsop court hearing expressed doubt about pg&e when they said safety was their number one priority. he also suggested he doesn't think the utilities commission has been too lax in its oversight. do tou have confidence th cpuc will be able to provide adequate oversight of th restructuring as it happens in bankruptcy? >> if we're talking about wildfire safety and making sure that the trees don't come into contact withl es, which is what's causing the fires, we have to give the cpuc the resources that it needs to puts inspectn the ground to make sure that pg&e is doing what they need to do. but other thing is, i feel very strongly that we need new leadership at pg&e and that if judge allsop appoints receiver he will have somebody that will be accountable to h to make sure that his orders are carried

ou right now simply telling pg&e over and over again comply with the law doesn't seem to be working. they have and record history of not complying, not trimming the and recently, of falsifying tens of thousands of pipeline inspection records. the call before ydig 811. there's no excuse for that. >> would support having pg&e become a public company? >> i thinkt's one of the options that we should look at. would i want to be careful about is that we don't end up in a situation where the denselypu ted areas get -- get covered and the expenses, rural areas, get left out and get uck with very high costs. we want to make sure that we preserve a system, even if it's public, where we can spread the

ctnd the risk among a large number of customers. and not just have a two-tier system, good, cheap service in expensive and poor, service in the rural areas. >> what are some of the challenges, marissa?l, >> w i think, first of all it's sort of -- it speaks to where we're at with the cpu that we need a federal receiver. we saw that in the san bruno ecase too, feds came in and did this investigation. i think his point about a more rost, well funded cpuc is a good one. i think that we did see a lot os ethicals come out with their connections to pg&e through that san bruno case. some of them do seem to have been addressed. you k yw, i think that when talk to people who have worked at pg&e they feel like a ot the problem has been in the leadership, not in the sort of rank and file. i think most people agree with that. but it is a really hard question, and i mean the structure of them, thin is something that is worth looking

at because there is this enperverse ive when you are trying to answer to wall street on one and andrve customers on the other. yeahwater department -- >> it absolutely is. but it works and the other utilities have been able to do that and balance that, but pg&e for sone re after the bankruptcy in 2001 they changed their focus. their ceos a cfos, they come from the financial industry. they're looking to please wall nstreet, main street. >> senator hill, what are the broader issues here too? let's take pg&e out this, the bankruptcy out of this, the broader concerns about where utility lines are locate we need to put legislation in place to force them underground? does there need to be additional legislation on home construction in fire prone areas? >> that certainly is an issue right now in sacramento is whether those areas should not have, in the middle of the foresbyou should be lding, underground and the utilities sounds good, it's a great idea, but markould be right there, it's a very expensive proposition to do that. and it may not be necessary.

you can harden the grid, harden it in a l ways that does not include undergrounding the utilities. >> what are some of those ways? >> as san diego gas and electric did after major fires, in 2007 they have steel poles now, they don't have wooden polesil that collapse or burn in a fire and fall over in the wind. they have hardenednd insulated conductors through the system. they've protected their infrastructure. and made it strong enough so that it won't be falling. as we know in pg&e, at least from what's beenreported, the transmission towers are 100 years old in some cases. you can't succeed when you have that type of infr htructure. >>e to agree with senator hill on thi there are ways to cost effectively me t system much more safe. we need to do that, and we need to do it quickly. undergrounding in addition to being extremely expenve takes way too long to be able to t de

wi fire risks that are upon us every single summer. so we need to as much as we ean now before the next fire season that isnable and that will make a difference. >> all right. well, thank you. on that note, mark tony with turn, marissa galagos and state senator jerry hill, thank you >> thank you very much. sa> now to politics. president trump ys the theme for his state of the union dress on tuesday is unity. sitting behind him at that speech will be house eaker pelosi, whose maneuvering led the president to back down from funding the wall. assigning bay area lawmakers to several key house communities, includingec homelandity and government oversight. meanwhile in california a fight is brewing between state officials and cities over affordable housing. javier baa ser a is suing huntington beach.

joining me now to discuss all of this are kqed senior editor of politics and government scott shaffer, and lon he chen. welcome back, gentlemen. the president is giving this speech amid tensions over keeping the government open, over the border wall, over the russia investigation. amid that backdrop how confident are you he will be able to deliver a unifying message, which is what he's vowing tol, ? >> w it wouldn't be consistent with what he's been like so far as president. i would think there's two different path ways to take, ons o look to issues where there is common ground with democrats, ugescription pricing, infrastructure reform, areas h ere the democrats would potentially work we president or he can go into the tissue that his base cares about, like immig tion. so farat's been his play, been where he's been most comfortable and the frankly the politics of this dictate, i think, a speech that's less

unifying, as he thinks about02 and his reelection campaign he really needs to consolidate that base and the issues that will consolidate the base are not the same issues that det crats want to talk ab terms of working together with republican >> i don't think he's ever tried to unify. his inaugural address was focusing on crime. >> very dark. >> verytark. and t seems to be his only play in his playboo i don't think he's tried to reach very far beyond his base. i agree that he could. i'm also going to be looking at how treatsancy pelosi, does he call her madam speaker, or is itenancy, could be gracious and extend an olive branch. that's just not in hisre na maybe he'll, you know, have a new play for the state of the union. we just haven't seen that. >> immigration is a very big issue in californi's a key issue for him. audience those in the will be an undocumented immigrant who worked at one of his golf courses. e was invited by a democratic congresswoman. scott, w will that affect any

message that the president delivers o immigration and border security and protecting jobs for americans? >> it reminds me o what steve bannon did during a debate with hillary clinton, he brought women that had accused clinton of sexual assault to a debate. meant tos traction, throw him off his game a little bit. but i think that the concern that democrats have, and some republicans frankly, is that a nationalto decla emergency in the speech and therefore try to go around congress to get the moneytarom the pn or other places in the budget to build this wall. but, you know, i think that there is a way to talk about a that would rity include fencing and technology and beefing up theor publicer access points and the coast guard. but, you know, i tnk that ings like inviting somebody who was an undocumented worker that got, i think, fired fr his company is really not going to help. >> it will be interesting to see the tone and approach the president takes to immigration because recall, this is

happening while the co wgressional committee th convened after the shutdown to discuss immigration policy is continuing its deliberation. the president can set the tone goes.ere that committee he's already tweeted, by the way, that it almost doesn't matter. he thinks it's a waste of time what this committee does, which suggests that he's already got his mind made up. >> he to "the new york times" he's going to build that wall anyway. decyou think he willre a national emergency? >> i think that's the most likely outcome at this point. i mean, it's unlikely -- look, ths committee that's be formed to discuss immigration is made up of people who are de relatively te overall on immigration. you don't have a lot of hardliners. even if they come to an agreement thatca 80% of amer would agree on, is that committee going to gethegreement from hardline democrats and conservative republicans andp, president tr unlikely. we're not going to have another shutdown, but we're going to end up with president trump exercisi unilateral authority, i think. >> california's congressional tellgation. when heth delivers speech it

will be in front of a congress where california has the largest number of house members, 53 in all. nancy pelosi has named bay area congressmen to key areas. barbara lee lost her race, but heum got a p assignment from nancy pelosi anyway. >> she wanted tht position, and she lost to hakeem jeffries, an up a comer from new york state. bar barbara lee is one of the most liberal members of the house, but she's also a conciliator, she brought together the bernie sanders supporters with hillary clinton supporters at democratic convention in philadelphia in 2016. so i think in this role, on this committee where they're tryg toridge the differences she's a good choice. >> do you think she'll use the g position, th to, you know, build more progressive power in the house? >> on this committee, you mean? >>yes. >> i don't think so. nancy pelosi, i think, chose

people who were not in it for themselves, but were in it to try to come to some kind of an agreement thaeverybody, including the president, can live with. you know, democrats have been for fencing. they've put lots of money toward border security. there is a way. the question is will the president take yes for an answer, i think. >> yeah, i mean, it will be the esting to see and also california delegation you've got this interesting mix of people who are quite progressive, people particularly elected in the 2018 cycle who come from that part of the party.bu you've also got potentially more moderate elements, how those all mix together and that looks like will be an interesting subplot as nancy pelosi continues her speakership. let's move t to something really interesting happening on the housing issue in california. and that is attorney general javierbacerra suing hundredsington beach, compelling it to construct more affordable housing. scott, explain to us the laws the attorney general thinks huntington is violating. >> there was a law passed last year, i believe, that allowthe

state to sue local governments that aren't meeting their housing goalsare actively trying to avoid meeting the housing goals. the governor and the attorney general got together and have been talkingbout this for quite some time, before gavin newsome got there, huntington is one of those places that's been blocking housing, a lo-- of down there. so newsom is makingng houin general a priority. he put in $2 billion in his budgeot it's a carnd stick situation. he's firing a warning shot across the bow of huntingt beach. down there they elected some democrats for the first tme in a whithe legislature, and they're nervous that it's sort taking away local control is going to hurt them. they didn't get elected by big margins. >> are there other cities in the cross hairs, particularly in the bay area? >> well, i wonder about marin county where the governor lives, it's beenri nosly opposed to building more housing. we've heard about brisbane as

well. >> what do you think about all this. >> the conflict between local whcontrol and the state responsibility is, is going to play out in this area, as it has in many other issue areas. fundamentally the question on housingh iss in the best position to do it? the localities will continue to aue we should ha control and obviously the governor and the attorney general feel differently. >> all right, lon he chen, with institution, and yo podcast is crossing lining. and scott shaffer with kqed, thanks to you. >> thank you. oakland is having its now with moment right three acclaimed films set in the city, including "black panther," first super hero to beno minated for be picture. it's brought goobal attention oakland. the city's long been a hub for arts and activism. it's nowealing with entrification and a struggle for its identity. the three mu views touch on tse themes in their own way.

the black cast was hailed as an important culturalmoment. "sorry toyo bother u" tells the story of miserable telinarketers tryto survive. and "blind spotting," a dark cemedy about police viol and the intersection of class and race. >> bro. >> stop. stop. don't shoot don't shoot. >> and joining me now is car vel wallace, a contributing writer for the "new york times" magazine. ice to have you here. >> happy to be here. >> so i saw "blind spotting" and it covers so manymp ccated things, race, class, police brutality, oakland's gentrification, what is it about the movie's treatment of these issues that went so well with

audiences? >> the film represented a more modern take on the intersection of race and class. i think that ever since, if you look atrmusic, e since the invention of the ipod you've started to get a lot more mixing of ideas ande, cultu people growing up listening to metal thing. and that kind of i think that the generation that's grown up with that aesthetic has found its voice.li i think the spotting is part of that. oakland and berkeley has sort of been ahead of the curve for a long time on that. the rest of t country is now catching up on where those ideas become political. >> 2018 was such an extraordina year foroakland, right, besides blind spotting, there was "sorry to bother you," and black panther" part lyset-- does this say about the kinds of movies and film makers coming out of the city? >> i thi r it means thet of the country is on some level

catching up with some of the things that have made oakland unique. lot of what what's made it unique is the mix of culture and race. >> that's what informs the film makers. >> one teacher that was a black panthe teacher that's the ph.d. atcal, one cousin that was both, an aunt that was a hippie. kids are growing up working class with all these influences, the intellectua urbane, politics. >> you might have a fami member affected by police brutality. >> yes, and the rest of america has caught up to the idea that the that's the newer definition of an american citizen. and i think the bay area been ahead of the curve on that. >> does this signal a lasting shift in hollywood regarndng what of stories and story tellers are supported or is it more of a blitz? > i think it remains to be seen. i think that the good thing about the internet is that it's

allowedrtists to validate their high pop sis publicly before gate keepers agree. you can make content, as a result of the content, go to a studio, and say there's a million likes and tweets and followers. we can guarantee this works. that hasermanently changed the face of hollywood. whether or not that continues to mean oak nd gets representation, or rather that representation spreads out, kind of remains to be een. >> we have the commercial success of movies like "black panther," and "crazy rich asians" which used the internet for audions b movies featuring non-white casts are rare. what else needspe to hat the decision making level to make that me common place?e >> theds to be more diversity. big differenc between building a platform online and getting,

you know, $20illion funding for a movie. it's hard to do that on line. t i thit what we're seeing is the rise of some decimeon makers, eople who own networks, who own big enough bank accounts thatllthey can r make decisions about feature films, we're seeing more diversity in those ranks. that's the main thing that will make it happen. >> the movies we talked about, he three movies that came out of oakland weren e works well before the 2016 presidential electi. sorry to bother you, blind t spotting, a year pronlt. how did the political environment aect the final product and how the public perceived them? >> i think the current political climate has made -- has affected the way those projects are received. i think whenever, you know, the part of what at does is validates the humanity of the eople about whom the art is made. that's why representation has always been important because more representation means morev idation of humanity. and so i think that after trump

and after the election there were a lotof people in this country who felt like it was now even more important, more vital to validate the humanity of women or people of color, of queer, lgbtq, et cetera. that has been reflected in the ay people have shown up for theseojects because they know the power that those projects hold in t face ofat we're seeing politically. >> you've lived in oakland 20 years. how do these changes you're talking about right now, the climate, asitical well as the gentrification affecting the work of film makers and other artists who live in oakland? ? >> in order for there to be artistic movement in a place, it has to be. affordab artists have to work at the beginning of their careers not making a l of money. those three mill am makers had to essentially leavan oa to get their projects funded. the producers, where the money comes from, "black panther" is a marvel project which is not

based in oakland. gentrification makes it harder for people to live here and stay weseeing the upping of here. oakland as a brand, but simultaneously we're kind ofg seehe diminishing of oakland as a place where artists can live and work and still afford to pay rent. >> and that's cerininly the on struggle. car vel wallace, contributing writer for the "new york times," thanks so ch for being with us. >> thank you for having me. and that will do it for us. as always, you can find more coverage at kqed.org/newsroom. thank u for joining us. ♪ ♪

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