tonight on kqed newsroom, governorws gavin e talks to us about tackling big and costly challenges ahead. a filings from uber and other tech companies with a back lash. an alarming picture off how humans and climate change are accelerating climate change. we begin with state politics. on thursday governor gavin newsome had a budget $4 billion higher than the one in january. he wantsto address what he says is the state's quote ba affolity crisis, especially for working families. one would spend up to fourmo nths paid family leave for

parents. they have until midjune to send it a final version to the governor that includestheir plan to tackle problems off wild fire to housing. scott shaffer. >> reporter: thanks for joining us. the budget you released at the state capitol, 4 billion or so t larger tha one in january. are there things you would like the include that you can didn't because of lack of revenue of politicalback from the legislature or elsewhere? >> we need do a lot more on k through 12, teacher training, retention, pay. special education. we put a historic amount of money in to special education and training.we put eclose to $700 million lle special ed. but it's s a modest amount

considering the totality. i'd like the move forward more expedishesly with hiversal heaare. the budget reflects that. but obviously it's going take a few more years to have the resources which are in the multiple billions of can dollars to ultimately achieve that goal and advance the real goal, which an cng our financing to a thngle frame financing. >> some of critics say your goals are a little too odd agss. do you feel like you may have to scale that back a bit? >> we've reached some othem. the fact is we're producing less than 100,000 housing units. address the price in balance or nd in price in balance. that said i want to berealistic but at the same time i want to be odd agss. we've got a regional strategy

that we've laid out. $1.75 billion in the budget for howing. what we call rerks e nerks a goals. and we'll update our state-wide gel. >> u suggest e ested in january that tying gas tax revenue to their progress on housing construction. a lot of pushback on that. er some democrats or freshman worry bout getting recall or not reelected. what is that? >> it's okay. it's carrots and sticks. i had to sue huntingten beach. because they weren can compliant with their housing element. it's one of the reasons we're 49th out of 50th in per capita housing units. the state of california can't build. localmunicipalities, counties, they're the ones creatinging the conditiofor investment. we're putting an unprecedented

amount mount of work to support them. u refuse to do it, how can we leverage tha >> is there a concern you might be foregoing worth while transportation projectses? >> no. we'd spend every penny. th point iss there rar job housing linkage. the fact is you don't need new transit funds if you're not building more capacfry individuals to utilize the roads. thos producing housing, iou thik they be reward and incentiveized. just trying to find ways to link the two up is important. >> as you know coming back again with sc 50 to encourage more high density housing, especially nsoujd job centers and t hub. it's already been amended to exclude counties like sonoma, more rural countedi

and there's concern about state ov reach and trying to dictate to the state governor. is that concern legitimate? >> let me express thi there's a bigger concern. california dream. st's quite literally in peril. i ln on the folks on the far right criticizes the state. middle class are getting sqezed. the have and have nots are manifesting a record number of homeless. we've got to get serious about our housing issues. with respect sometimes, i'll say it. we all have to row together. i appreciate what scott's trying toing do. we l see where that bill en up. but i really appreciate him nspiring the debate anew. and the state shouldn't have to do this. but it's in the absence off real local leadership at scale that obviously forces our hand in sacramento to do something

enovel, different. >> you've got mini for wild fire prevention. how much liallability they should be on the hook for. some places like san francisco are considering a public power grid. when you think about all this and look down the road, what do you see pg&e looking at? >> different leadership, board, culture. we changed a lot of leadership but the can culture hasn't changed. they've got to get serious about safety. serious about investing in the future and frustructure, technology. serious about dealing with the immediate crisis which is two-fold. one, making whole the victims of the fires. making sure theyet the settlements moving forward to make those victim whole. get serious about moving out of bankruptcy so they can start getting whole and investing in the green egrowth future. at the sa time we have a very chal mpging reality and that is

very ifficult tooperate a utility with the hots getting hotter and theries getting dryer and you have two other alifornia ity its in that are one bond rating away from junk wabond statuses itself. >> question about police accountability. there are two competing builts. one that calls for more training. anopoer sed by the a krerks lerks u and calls for more accountability and holding police officer accountable when there's deadly a force it's not just in self defense. where do you fal on those two competing measures? >> number oneup ert because it's relevant. our budget reflects a record amount of money for whpo we call our program. that's an important enhancement in the budget. i'm try doing my best to get the parties together. i've got key staff members working i don't think it's

exaggerating -- full time onb this top. people working collaboratfely to seets rrb posable to find compromise. >> and dispute over a bill offt nsparency and release of personnel records is retroactive or not. javier is taking the position it is not retroactive. do you agree with where the attorney generalis rignow or would you strike the personnel records>> released? edeep respect for the attorney general. he's a friend. rsonally. and i have great respect and addmeration for the policy ars political ctive. we put out oo memo in contrast of the attorney general's position. we believe the law allows for retd activity. g> thank you so much for join us. >> grateful. >> now to the tech agency. ride hailing it uber is the

biggest ipo of the year. lyft o posted a lossf more than 1$1 bill yen in its first earnings report as a public company. drivers went on strike wednesda over wages bor practice. also this week facebook co founder became theelatest high profile voice to call for regulatinging the tech giant.nd san francisco business columnist and casey newton from "theetburj." so l's start with facebook co founder. he said facebook hasnl not harmed it democracy but is now a monopoly and mark zuckerberg's pow unprecedented and unamerican. how much weight do you think this will carry in the growing calls to break up facebook? or are we looking at more likely

scenario of regulation? regulation is mor likely than a break up. antitrust in forcement in this country is very weak right now. it puts him in a line of earlyb fak employees sounding the alarm about the company. they say it's too large, powerful and the government needs to step in. so hoouz rr isn't the first person to say this but he is a co founder of the company. and while people insibo fa tend to discount his views, i think his voice c eies widely today. >> an early facebook investor has been out saying the same message. but does achbt break up make sense, kathleen? >> i was kind of surprised he never brought up theoint. kangress to out law the super voting majority shares that letr

zucke control about 60% of the company, even though he sold most of it to the public. tech companies, media companis are using the share structure where the oers can still get over 50% control of the cpany, eve even though they don't owe hech of the stock. >> so don't have to anlser to anybody, not even the shareholders. >that's not true. i don't know there's any oneon pehat can manage a network of more than 2 billion people. that's a point you make is it's hard to thing off a person you aluld want to intrust with off that power. it would be great eif there was more accountability on all boersds at public companies. but i think at facebook the problems might be larger than just that. >> kathleen, uber went public thispr morning at a stoc of $45. but by the end of the day it

fell 48% to $4.50. it's rather disappointing for a highly ticipated ipo. >> the dow is down big most of the day, although it managed to close up. i think the big thing happening is obviously lyft went public and is trading way below its price. and also einvestors are just somewhat pessimistic about profitability for ethese company. it's long and winding and i ll of hillsink. >> yeb think it's actually a story about the markking. they said we're going to lose 1.8 billion over the next year and i think public took a look and said what exactly are we buying a piece of here? they want to tll you uber eats will make money or with micromo other things like that.

but right now uber is a inallenged-looking business and its growth is slo >> and there are questions about how long it can t continue classify its workers as independent contractors and not employees. and in fact kathleen this week uber drivers strike. a one-day they were protesting their pay, working condigs. and you had an article today in the chronicle about how much drivers actually get paid. how much do they make? >> the story was re about the discrepancy about what the passenger pays and what the driv makes. and it varies a lot. it's all over the map. no pun intended. that's because the drivers get paid primarily on time and distance. e t passengers get charged whatever they char the fair. 50 to 60% of the fair. >> the driver could be decen.or very litt

>> what they make depends how often they work, when they work, etc. >> and the labor department on that issue of independent s contract the labor department recently issued a letter that pretty much allows uber and lyft, economy companis to keep classifying workers as independent contractors and not employees. could public opinion make a difference? we saw had it huge uproar and they changed their poliines. >> i the uber case a little different from the instacar one. there are a lot of uer drivers who don't want to have it as a full-time job. they like t turn it on over the weekend and make few extri bucks. it's hard toink how you would it devise a perfect solution. given some drivers want to be employees and some don't.

>> and speingf public opinion e there's a tech back lash happening in san francisco. a higher ip 0 tax to raise for housing and other cost. broade reflective of a public opinion push.e officials in public wanting to hold it tech companies more accountabilitiable for gentrification and things fliekcome and equality? >> tech companis are big and rich now. so if you're a supervisor and you want money, they're the obvious place to look. i support many of the taxes in the city but to me e ideaia would tax ipos, which are very unpredictable, as a way of solving our hardest prob elements seems crazy to me. we know how to solve the housing crisis. ideas rr like the hear supervisors. >> it wasn't that long ago it

the city was passing tax breaks for tech companies to move them to market. and we've circle on that.ull >> and speaking of i perks "o" there are currently lots of instant millionaireses. what impact will that have on bay area housing crisis? >> that's a big topic on real estate maerkets. you're seeing all kinds of estimates about what they're going to do 92in ho market? i think redfin put out a study that current squeformer uber emplee could buy all of the homes on the maerkt right now in san francisco, oakland and berkeley. and estimated that they could raise the median home price from 7,000 to $25,000. but honestly, we don't know. we don't know how manyh ofe employees have stock, how many are going to buy a house.

how many are going to take that money and move taa tax state.no also you have to look at what's going on thij market in general and it's not as vibrant as it was last year. think the median home price t pped for the first time in a bunch of years lnth. so maybe what you'll see is instead of prices going up, maybe they won't go down a mitch hoar maybe they will. it will be interesting to see. >> kathleen with the san francisco chronicle. thank you both. >> thank you. >> we turn our attention to climate change. this week a united nations w reportns as many as 1 million plants and animal species are at risk of extinction laerjly due to human action and global warming it included thousand of

scientific studies. and food security and clean water. we talkore about this with an energy professor at u.c. berkeley. and founder and president of the political action commitae nextgen america. i know you have been lousy lobbying for president. there was his assertion and the house committee vote to hold al attorney gen barr in contempt of congress. but they're still side stepping the issue of impeachment. what do you think it will take to change their mind? >> i think as speaker pelosi said we're in a constitutional crisis because this president has -- in an almost blaengt fashion says he does notre gnize the separation of powers and he sin eeffect at war

with an equal branch of government.we i believe are in a crisis and that crisis will enly deepen as the congress decide how assert their power. and -- >> but yet speaker p losi ist willing to start imepeachment hearings. do you thing she's making a mistake? >> i think facts are going to over take her. i'vways felt if you don't think there's enough information yet to impeach him, wait until tomorrow. she's being over taken by the fact that thisidpresident s her branch of government doesn't exist as far as he is concerned. the new united nations go report further than previous studies about the earth's ecosystem. details how close thefate of

humans is is combined. >> the push toa under the extinction revolution as part of our energysind biodiv future is here. we see it inoney be and the impalk on our food security and on the incrednd haebl small remaining patches of nature where we now see the value of a bioodiversefry a whole variety of features. and they're high not just energy. but we have to preserve the planet we're going e on too. >> so there a way to stop this it decline of biodiversity at at this point or is the best we can hope for is damage control >>elping fiegs get up fish ladders and spawning to settic aside biodiverse scrips. but stwree dmit to ntsdsic th

we're part of nature, it's not a part of us. a >> the panel on climate change warns we only have about ten years left before we ca can avert catastrophic climate change. polls show many americans don't view this as their top priority. what do you think it will take for them to make the a top prioort? >> one thing that has changed is for democratic primary voters this is the number one issue. so i think we've seen a real change. and the vast majority of americans understand we need clean energy. what we have is an absolute system failure where the donors from the fossil fuel community are controlling the republican part and they're refusing to accept the idea that dan and other scientists can know something about science insisting on making short-term

money. >> how do we address that, dan. >> >> one, as tom said this is at the toup of the agenda and presidential candidates high eletting 100% clean energy agendas and also means more jobs t it means better opportunities for low income americans and stloe is a real nexus around clean sustainable air and that message is one that can push beyond simpthry environmental. >> and speaking of technology that we're seeing -- because it isn't all bad news. clean energy technology is getting bet eer,rsheaper. fro what are some of the two or three bright spots that you see right now in terms of progress on fighting climate change? >> there are a couple tifferent waanswer the question. if you're asking about chnology, you can see

renewable energy gen rag is the cheest there is. so when people say we're go tagging have to give something up, no you're not. you're go having to to give something up in order not to plot. and another thing that's amazing. the nevada state house voted for a proposition that we put forward on the ballolast year. because 50% renewable energy by 2030. and every republican voted. every republican in both the state senate and the state legislature voted 50% clean energy by 2030. i was shocked. sit maybe we're seeing a revolution on bots of the aisle. >> what about nuclear power though? is that a feasible optn? >> it' feasible butz it's in a tricky spot. bah it's so much more expensive than renewables.

and as energy storage becomes not cheap but legislature after legislature, w alifornia, rk, arizona are all picking energy storage over natural gas. so nuclear is go having to to get sfer and cheaper and easier to install. i would love to see to see it succeed but it duant match the energy maerkt today. >> we have progressive democrat calling for a government-led program to create new jobs and clean energy. what do you think about that? >> it's fantastic. do i agree with evprything they posed? no. but they came win a huge prupoel for a huge problem. and so it's a first draft. betterryoneb with a idea, come in with an improvemeovim from the green new deal. but for those on the sidelines who pollute and sharp shoott

hose trying to solve the problem, i'm not going to give you a single wor until you stop polluting and come in with ans actuagestion that's workable. they did. >> i think what's exciting about the green new deal also is it takes the environmental movement to environmental plus social movement. understanding how lec trek vehicles can serve people who kaen can't necessarily afford to buy a car. and moving the environmental movement to the environmental plus social, that's what we have been hoping and waiting to see. and the number of youthly that e reaking a lead role from the europe to school strike in the united states, w eare seeing something that business leaders, politians haveo listen. frers >> if you watch how it's worked in california and we dee have the most progressive energy legislation in the world. it's been led by legislation

from the poorest it districts in california. they didn't go along with it. you lookdo at who dhitd people said they ghu knew their pollution was hurting their constituents. >> it's growing. >> that's what should be leading here. we should be leading with justice nowing we'll gete it right policies for climate and justice. >> what do you think about beto oroerk and jay insly. they seem to be mieving away from cap and trade programs and focusing on the carbon tax and more in terms of the framework electric cars and new technology. >> i don't know if it's better. i know those plans quite well. i would say they'raynot moving rom them. they're recognizing whats californiadoing, can which

is that we have a carbon price. you needprect boy odiversity, make income generating for low income people. this is much more holistic. >> pleasure to have you both on. >> thank you. and that will do it for us. as always you can fred of our coverage on kqed.com/newsroom. thank you for jg us.

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