You know how has had enough Alicia of her own in some ways at least publicly Yeah and show she was a prosecutor and she was appointed to the courts by George Deukmejian and all Pete Wilson elevated her further in that Arnold Schwarzenegger all Republicans put her on the state Supreme Court but yeah you know I got the impression even when she joined the high court that you know she was young when she picked a political party I don't think she was political in particular you know with just a lot of times aren't the only guy who they shouldn't be yeah and so in some ways I think this is just maybe more in keeping with really who she is yeah right well let's talk about someone who's definitely political and makes no bones about it Nancy Pelosi will have to next the Yankees or say that now if we can she's pretty much mowed down the opposition she got the last few votes that she needed this week by basically agreeing to term limits which is something members of Congress really don't like but that she's agreed to term limits for leaders like her and James Clyburn and Stanny Hoyer so should be speaker now for 4 more years and then she will become that bridge to the future and when I read the article when I saw the news alert on my phone I thought I just read it as 2020 that she would she she agreed to 2 more years and I was reading the article and I started laughing because I mean 4 more years maybe longer than Flosi actually wants to be in d.c. All 3 at the end of it all and she told us in August if Hillary had won she would have stepped down I mean she felt like under Trump especially but I think more broadly that with 3 men in the other leadership positions she needed to be at the table and I think that this was just the perfect example of what a good chess player Nancy Pelosi has politically I mean what we thought this week to when she walked into the oval all you remember that was well a whole other health old man like that was a month ago it was like 3 days ago 2 days ago but she has a steely spine and I think that the you know the Democrats were really on the fence about her must have seen that in thought I'll get behind her yes i Washington Post columnist comparing to like not letting her be leader to saying that Le Bron James just said on the bench so other players get to play. You know it's I mean it's true she is a master legislator they will come Ok but it's not here yet for her or anyone else and I think that you know just if you look at the way she handled this insurgency within the party kept onto the leadership gave away some things I think if you read between the lines of what she said earlier this year that she probably thought should happen anyway in terms of elevating new leaders I mean in some ways they gave her an out with the older members of the party to do that yeah that's true and you know I think we you know we asked some of the same question about Dianne Feinstein who's $85.00 she just got another 6 year term you know I think that women who reach those heights of power they don't want to be pushed out they want to decide for themselves when it's their time they don't want told by you know some freshmen legislators men do either but I don't think they're asked to exactly that's what I mean especially But when they're being asked by men and I wish we were doing a lot of the opposition to Palosi was you know people like Tim Ryan from Ohio you know mostly men not entirely South Molton from Massachusetts as well nobody is saying much about much McConnell Yeah nobody is saying that about him yeah I'm just saying we're going to take a break before we do I just want to. Ensure that Gavin Newsom's father William Newton bill bill bill new Some The former judge died this week 84 years old and we talked with him about his dad when he was on the show a few weeks ago and we just want to give our condolences to him and his sister. I'm sure he's glad that his dad got to see him elected governor and he and I am and I know that you know I think he had a long history with Jerry Brown he put out a very powerful statement about him you know to long career in public service so a big loss and probably a really hard thing to happen right before you become governor Absolutely and you know even the chief justice tonic until cycleway mentioned him when she when she met with reporters saying that she's hoping that the fact that his dad was a judge will give you know good relationships between him and her as they talk about budget issues and so but again I would say she's not a party preference now. Yeah exactly so just condolences to Gavin Newsome and we're going to take a short break and when we come back we're going to change gears big time and talk with Amy Brown she is one of Sacramento's top lobbyist you're listening to political breakdown from k.q.e.d. Public Radio. Proceed in the. Newly elected Congress. And. Congress about the company. And. Housing your transit hubs. Pakistani. And. Special that's coming up. Stay with us. Welcome back to political breakdown I'm recently August here with Scott Shafer and it's my pleasure to introduce a woman who in some ways got her start in politics as a young girl more on that later but she is one of Sacramento's most effective and powerful lobbyist we're going to say that even if she disagrees I mean Brown welcome to the break Thank you think you're overstating And yes I do but I have 2 questions or statement. Ok Number one I have not been doing this for 13 years I'm way older than that I've been doing it for over 20 you start of the firm 13 yes that's true Ok Ok that's certainly one case in and 2 I'm wondering what kind of process you went through to vet your interview easy because you see I'm a little bit of the wild card you said I just met you got a lawyer brought us to the dart board over there Yes All right well in that regard that's what's fun about the show you know what we try to do here is like actually give folks a sense of what really happens in the halls of power and you're one of the people that makes things happen just tell us Ok to start with because I think that you know when we ring a politician and it's very easy to know what is Gavin Newsom do how do you explain what you do at a cocktail party if you ever go to one that's not full of other lobbyist and politicos Well I don't tell me I'm a lobbyist 1st of all why. It's a bad word I used to be an auditor same kind of thing you don't tell people your auditors and lobbyist because they start thinking the worst of you kind of journalist and Carson exactly what we are all in the same family I knew best friends. So what do you tell it so I tell them I'm an advocate you know I do I do use the l. Word and I say I represent a whole host of. Interested parties who want to have some sort of influence before the state legislature whether it be city governments whether it be so. Other clients in the energy space everyone needs a voice when you want to influence the way policy turns out in California so they hire me advocate that is the word that I've been playing the test for it's been nice a were bad l. Worse so what do you do I said you know you know what I was going to tell you I want to go like you know I don't have normal days but I'll tell you a general normal day I go to the Capitol I talk to assembly members and senators and staff and committee consultants about what I am lobbying on on a certain policy issue I try and convince them that my policy argument is the right one and I get them to vote my way and sometimes I don't I'm not successful in doing that so I have to get my votes elsewhere so lobbyists I would imagine have different skill sets right and different personalities different genders Yes You know so what would you say is like your signature move as a lobbyist like you're going to have I can't tell you that about everyone I think you know I have developed some strong relationships based on my local government background since since I started this business and what gives me the advantage is that. There are members of the legislature who come from local government who I have likely establish relationships with ahead of time and there's a trust element to it I'm always truthful I tell them both the pros and cons of what I'm lobbying on who they're going to be up against and I don't leave any stone unturned and I think that the integrity and the fact that I give them all science gives them the comfort of knowing that. I'm someone to be trusted so being a little transparent Yeah let's back up. Tiny bit because we want people to know a little bit about you so you grew up in Livermore right and you have a family that was in politics your mom was the mayor out there do you feel like this was a bug that sort of you at an early age yeah it was something I couldn't turn down I mean I've tried I went into as a psychology major at u.c. Santa Cruz and that didn't really work out and then I tried biology maybe it didn't work out like college is a big part of lobbying I don't have a psychology I can't read people for the life of me but that's another story that's for that's for another newscast so yes I grew up in a local government environment my mom was the mayor for 20 some odd years so I remember as a 6 and 7 year old walking precincts and being in front of grocery stores handing out flyers was I'm fine no absolutely not I was it was a chore for me it was like oh help Mom get a job you know that's a responsibility that your kid doesn't want to kind of mirror she was that I mean those are nonpartizan Yeah yeah Republicans she kicked up dust where ever she went and sometimes I mean there's a lot of dust unless there is a lot of dust in Livermore. I would agree that a lot of beer you know there's a lot of vineyards but a lot of does yes she kicked up does wherever she went so my mom was a juvenile probation officer and so she brought that sort of hard knocks to the job and if she thought something was right or wrong she battled everyone in her way and I adopted that sort of policy with her so you know growing up I was that council meetings and walking precincts for her and campaigning for her and then when I went to college I thought I don't want to do the political campaign stuff which Here I am doing the political campaign stuff or what part of it did you find distasteful was that the campaign it was the campaigning in the precinct walking and the net. To Vittie through in the war there was a lot on the go yeah absolutely well. Let me ask Yeah Right now there's a little while ago that right I mean yeah wealth I mean you know not what has changed since the eighty's when I was walking the campaign my mother so I was I was slated to go I loved city government so I was slated to go into city management because that was all of the things I loved without that can holiday with Yeah that didn't that didn't work out do you consider yourself a partisan or is that like kind of one of those things as a lobbyist that you have to be careful about yes I wear my politics on my sleeve to the detriment I think of maybe some and maybe it's because I don't get clients but I can't hide my my political credentials when you are in it but why would you want to be one Democrat you know how do you think I know I'm a tree how can live how can I say how do you how do you decide who your clients are going to be I mean do you do people come to you and see me of like you know work with you represent we want to hire you and you say I'm sorry I don't agree with what you're trying to do so there are many times that we so my business partners and I do a download is this something we want to do but the real and if it is something that fits within our moral compass we have those conversations with folks the potential client but right off the bat we do a conflict check right so I'm not going to be representing a client that wants to kill a bill that another client is sponsoring. We can't do that right and our firm really works together in packs we don't have silos so you'll never see just one of us walking across the street at the Capitol we are all basically team do you ever kill bills that you think would have been good. No. Absolutely not but you have to think about it I did have to think about it you know sometimes. I do there's got to be things that you were asked to advocate for that you were like oh maybe I wouldn't vote for this or something like that you know not a lot of times I mean there have been a couple times where I've sort of had to check myself morally and say Is this something I really feel deeply about I wouldn't have taken on that client and those issues because when you're going through the interview process with a client you not only say Ok I believe in what you're doing but you also talk about the policies that they're wanting to push the following year and you know if a policy that they push is something that morally don't agree with then that's a deal killer for us well a lot of your clients are like local governments of you've mentioned I mean pensions are something you've worked on a lot energy these are not simple issues these are very complicated policy issues and I think sometimes we like over state how much are just like assume that lawmakers have more expertise than your average person and Newsflash everyone they don't write I mean they are real people that come from real backgrounds and some of us you know some of them might know a lot about being a c.p.a. Because that's what they did they don't nothing about energy What's your strategy for like breaking things down when you go in with a pension or an energy bill that is something that is so far afield from what somebody might understand to me so it's a really good question so we so I'm the backstop for the messaging legislators so I get in front of you you brought up energy I get from my energy clients and they are walking out I need to resent a stone to understand what the heck they're talking about right the acronyms and everything if I don't get it I'm not going to be able to convey that message to legislators so I say you need to give me the l of. Later pitch because if I can understand it then I'm able to convey that message to legislators in a way where they get it and a lot of times like if you're an expert in something you assume through conversations that people know what you're talking about and a lot of the times my biggest job is to say they are not going to get your message so you are not the only lobbyist that they're going to be listening to right on the even issue a lot of it's like a plan I mean if you go to the end of session the whole hallway is filled probably he's going to have. Yes. So how do you how do you know if you made a difference they tell me whether or not they're going to vote my way right then and there sometimes they'll say well here's the here's the trick sometimes they'll say I haven't made my decision yet you know what that tells me I have more work to do with that legislator right if they say I'm not with you I know that that door is closed and I go get my votes elsewhere and I don't burn that bridge they tell me the reason why that they don't agree with the policy that I'm trying to convey and I go find my votes elsewhere but if they leave that door open I'm going to lobby them to the end if you're just joining us our guest is Amy Brown You're listening to political breakdown from k.q.e.d. She is a Sacramento lobbyist with the firm arc strategies Correct Correct yeah so you know Teresa's point you know legislators know and don't know all kinds of things and I'm wondering like what is your ideal legislator like not like a person but what do they know yet in time they had a very high I'm so obviously I don't understand why The knows nothing as if some like you want a blank slate the well what do you what's ideal. So that runs the gamut in terms of of what I believe is a good legislator who I can lobby. I really enjoy educating a member who may not know the issues that well and that's a fun Congress. To have because you know I can answer questions that they have from from soup to nuts the other part of it and I can't tell you which one I like better but the other part of it is a legislator who I can get in and negotiate with and they're hard negotiations and they know the issues as well as I do or even more than me that's a fun experience as well because that tests my knowledge of that particular ration marking on I mean it strikes me like a lot of what she does is like what we do. That's why we're new friends. What are we doing act like a well read Ok Ok All right well I do want to move into something a little more serious which is the me too movement we said enough so you were one of one $140.00 women who signed on to a letter last year the basically called out the culture at the Capitol around sexual harassment and the lack of really any infrastructure to deal with it and you know I think for every single woman on that ladder it was probably a tough choice to make for a number of reasons I mean for you probably a lot of lobbyist I think it was about relationships and you build this you know credibility with people and you don't want to. I don't know like ruin it essentially like when when this conversation started with other women was that a hard decision for you know it wasn't a hard decision because it was a force in numbers I knew I wasn't alone it would have been a real hard decision if I was the only one to sign on to that letter. Knowing that I had the support of my women colleagues who had gone through the same thing that I had went through there were maker absolutely it wasn't even a question in my mind that I needed to sign up stand up for. The women particularly in the capital to make sure that the women coming up the ranks behind me didn't face what I faced. Well in fact I think one of the stories you told and in the article I read is that when you were a young staffer in Sacramento something happened that you fled the capital you left to go I think to San Jose Yeah I mean my daughter saw her yeah where I was you know I was hated even more than yeah being a staffer but did you feel as you leave out of like discuss yes anger yes absolutely that would happen yes so when I was a young staffer in the in the capital I was in my early twenty's and I was getting a master's degree and. Hayward Cal State work now he's back and I was sexually harassed by a sitting member of the assembly. Who wouldn't take no for an answer and it got to the point where it was so bad and so something I couldn't get out of thank God for the mom I had are have She's still around Kathy you're still around thank God for the mom I have because at that particular point she gave me the power and the voice to feel like I was supported to stand up did you feel like there was any one of the couple you could confide in and go to my boss at the time assembly member then Assembly Member Mike Sweeney was very supportive and I went to him and he supported me throughout that process but the rules surrounding sexual harassment at that time in the early ninety's there weren't any We were we were paving new I mean new ground breaking rules at that point so how different is it now because you have another story you've talked about about a thing I mean a lobbyist said to you and you have other people and that was we will repeat back as this is a family show Arpita Ok so after dinner I more karaoke after that I thought I was there. At the Capitol it was at the Capitol I was working on. A bill to a. I was opposed to a bill on the Senate floor and I was working members of the Senate and my opposition was there and he told me to shut the blank blank and close my open my legs like I normally do like that was something in front of in front of probably 30 or 40 other let legislators staff and lobbyists would you say do you think you can say on the radio how do you tell your director I'm characterized I gave him I I gave him the worst potty mouth that I have ever given anyone and I didn't speak to him for 2 years how long ago was that that was in 2004 around that time one of the things that this brings up that I think was talked about a lot in capital circles but maybe not as well publicly is like how yeah it's about a lawmaker harassing somebody but it's also about the people that sort of surround the capital ecosystem and like there's no rules to this day I don't think like what would you do besides you know curse them out if that happened now there's no like retribution other than calling their boss and what we're seeing we're seeing a movement in the capital surely with the rules committees of both houses taking an active role in following up with investigations of sexual harassment and I am I am pleased by the changes especially over the past year I think there's a lot more work that needs to be done but I'm very proud of the leadership in both houses for taking this on and really. Claiming that this is a very serious issue and that this behavior absolutely needs to stop do you think you would us I'm not letter if it happened when you were 20 something. Absolutely yeah yeah yeah we've got just a couple minutes left and you know we were momentous time in Sacramento Jerry Brown his accident Gavin Newsome is coming you know there's a lot of Democrats in the legislature 75 percent I think and when you combine that from both houses what are you looking forward to like what what changes do you see coming. That's a great question I'm looking forward to to really getting to know the issues that are important and at the at the front and of both leadership of both houses as well as the new members coming in and I've had the opportunity to meet several new members coming into the legislature I'm looking forward to meeting the others and looking at their legislative priorities and really being able to capitalize on those on behalf of my clients. Well the governor I'm really looking forward to working the governor and his staff he has hired a lot of folks that we've our firm has close working relationships with and I think he's made some great choices in particular on a month to Santos and some others who we're really looking forward to working with and you think that the sort of the priorities will be different I do I do I think that you know it's too soon to tell but I do think that the priorities are going to be different in terms of policy and I'm looking forward to working with the governor and the legislature to make those priorities happen are we will see in the halls of power while he was here I think Kerry O'Brien Yeah I mean all right Amy thank you so much for coming in really appreciate you very much and that does it for this edition of political breakdown it's a production of k.q.e.d. Public Radio our producer as always got a Mars or audio engineer Sylmar Even Lindsey is our executive editor and Holly current is our chief content officer I'm Rachel I guess you can follow me on Twitter I'm at am Waga and I'm Scott Shafer You can follow me on Twitter I'm at Scott Shafer that is a wrap for this week's political brake. Down Thanks for listening thanks. K.q.e.d. Newsroom it's coming up next support for k.q.e.d. Comes from San Francisco Ballet friends and families can experience magical memories live at San Francisco ballets not cracker for tickets visit s.f. Ballet dot org And a I creator of a nationally recognized artificial perception system delivering robotic vision that mimics the human eye to power autonomous vehicles Ai think like a robot perceive like a human more at. Ai coming up in one hour at 1030 this evening it's a special program called Making contact you hear the intimate story of trailblazing Cambodian American women who break decades of silence to go back to Cambodia this time not as victims of the killing fields but as witnesses before the u.n. Special tribunal prosecuting the Camaro that story coming up on making contact and that is at 1030 this evening here on k.q.e.d. Public Radio. Get the time now 930. Tonight on k.q.e.d. Newsroom she's among a diverse group of Congress members and shaking up Capitol Hill newly elected congresswoman Katy Hilton made l.g.b. a Part of her platform in the midterms and one and a Google goes to Washington is chief executive testified before Congress amid mounting conserves over how tech companies can build free speech and data privacy plus a state built to build housing near transit hubs that died in the legislature earlier this year gets a 2nd chance could it help alleviate California's housing crisis Hello and welcome to k.q.e.d. . We begin with the new face of Capitol Hill this midterm election Democrats want to regain a majority in the house why flipping Republican seats in hard won campaigns many are young and holding elected office for the 1st time including 31 year old Democrat Katie Hill she defeated 2 term Republican incumbent Steve knights in a district that covers Los Angeles and Ventura County East Hill as well to tackle complex issues such as homelessness while also focusing on the working middle class immigrants and community Hill and her staff have been called to the most millennial campaign ever and are now part of a fresh generation of leaders in a new House majority. And Congresswoman elect Katie Hill joins me now via Skype from Santa Clarita nice to have you with us if you so much Natalie well what have the past few weeks been like for you since winning the election it's been a whirlwind there was definitely not any time for. It was Did you see we hadn't turned leadership elections and kind of getting our asses going away and then we went to her bipartisan training. And now it's back home so. We're doing a lot this week in and I'm going to try and. Leave in 18 months but I bet you you've been working very hard in fact you are one of 14 elected members of the new House Democratic Caucus Congratulations on that. It and that's what perspective you're 31 years old you haven't background in writing organization that provides homeless services what perspective do you bring to the caucus that you think is lacking right now so well I think having a nonprofit there and really that piece of it that service piece of it the only mission of helping people and bringing all the different sticklers together to affect change in the community that's something that I think is incredibly important and I believe that you know and also you know having words. Literally hundreds of different government contracts you know I know the ins and outs of what works and what doesn't about some of our federal services but beyond that as a young woman as part of this new generation of people moving into readership positions in Congress I think that respect of the moment is something that's been missing and I look forward to bringing to the table you represent change yet at the same time you've supported having their support come back as House speaker even before she announced this week that she would limit herself to 4 years in the post why Nancy Pelosi and not someone new you know I heard on transitions in really preparing for a leadership transition in Maryland profit sector and I think having somebody who's . Really can help us navigate this process learn how to be effective and deal with the fact that we only are going to have power in the House and the Senate not the presidency so you know 70 percent of us as a as a freshman have never held a one Ellen to office before so we're going to we need to be looking at you know the people who have more experience than I and at the same time preparing for a transition that is inevitable at this point and what about you yourself what are the top priorities you will be pushing come January my proceedings is that we need to be as effective as possible in the pieces of legislation that we're going to pass so with an appropriations bill within you know the farm bill then. You know diseases transportation infrastructure package is the only thing you're likely to make it beyond just the House of Representatives so that looking for a different kind of angle to a fare you know some kind of movement or much solution will be I'm going to talk I think primarily on things that you think you can get some bipartisan appeal out of it what about other things that are perhaps a little more divisive trying to wash ice or impeaching President Trump what will you do on those issues so that's not that's not right doesn't want to be Mr den leader not reflect the views I think you know reform eyes absolutely have real immigration reform and absolutely you know it and some of the other pieces impeachment or president travel I don't think is something we should do right now since we we have to have a Republican support that's actually going anywhere and instead I think we need to focus on Project protecting the more investigation and you know conducting our oversight responsibilities at risk so I would say I support measures in that direction but not as you know I'm I'm simply not as far as you know some people are from these districts that are totally President Trump is they're threatening to shut down the u.s. Government if he doesn't get funding for a border wall and this week we saw a very tense televised Oval Office meeting between Harry. And Chuck Schumer what's your reaction to that standoff what does it tell you about the mood in Washington right now I think the stance that we as Democrats need to take is there we don't have the majority in any tumors and so if there's a shutdown it is entirely on the term of the Republicans and once we get there we can Yes we can talk about you know our piece of it and so if president tries to get the thing done if the Republicans want to get anything done they're going to have to work with us and vice versa so there will be a move towards who are rich and some in Pasadena but it's not going to be easy and there's always going to be tension but I think there are so many of us who are committed to act. You know changing and actually accomplishing things well we'll see a change in terms all right and just on a lighter note here you tweeted something pretty amusing recently related to your your transition to Congress and you ran it in the same policy last month at the airport and you limited your casual appearance and there you are with a very cute photo of yourself totally exhausted while adding in your tweet their Palosi looks flawless and you said sometimes you just have to laugh in trust the process so a very good sense of humor and now live again is over well what is what has surprised you the most about the whole process of running for office and winning office. I actually you know since I'm going to one of the things that surprised you the most in a really really positive way is that as a freshman class leader we are already working incredibly collaboratively together and we are being hurt by these more senior members who are making a real effort to change the way the things that historically been done and involve us in the process and make sure that our priorities in our Indians are really prioritized So I think you know I think there's a certain sense of we're going to we're going to have to go in and change a lot of these things but we're pushing for a lot of these things but there has been an incredible receptiveness to it so I think it just gives me so much optimism for the future and for what this next year or next 2 years ago would like that optimistic note we will leave it there Congress more money Lex Katie Hill congratulations again and thank you for being with us it is so much now to check Google's chief executive Sundar Pichai testified before the House Judiciary Committee this week he did I delegations from some lawmakers that the company suppresses conservative viewpoints in Google search results the company also faced questions about privacy and data collection similar questions are being levelled at Facebook for how it handles consumer data Meanwhile the recent arrest of one of China's leading technology it. At the request of Washington has ignited fears in Silicon Valley that China might retaliate here now with this week's tech round are the verge of Silicon Valley editor Casey Newton Market Watch tech editor and San Francisco bureau chief Jeremy Owens and c s chief technology correspondent you know fried Welcome to you all so in a more trouble for Facebook today the company revealed a major security flaw may have allowed 3rd party apps to improperly access people's photos even those that hadn't been fully been uploaded and this could affect nearly 7000000 users when it Facebook know about this and why are they telling us just now well this is the biggest issue so it's bad enough that these are photos that you were one of the posted photos that you might not have even wanted to post and then that they basically have known about it since September and are just letting the public know about it in December and just letting European regulators know about it November that's actually could end up being the bigger story here when this is part of a larger pattern right I mean we can we hear over and over again all we have this fall we have this reach and we don't hear about it until months later so are there any calls to find Facebook at this point or have some kind of other sanction or penalty Well there are provisions in both the new European law as well as the consent decree with the Federal Trade Commission the do require Facebook companies to notify about data breaches so this is where actually you can find consequences there's basically no law at this point that prevents companies from having data breaches which is good because they all lose their data but there are laws about how and when they notify people and you know this this could come back to bite them and I don't have any information are they disclosing any information on which apps had access and how these photos of photos might have been used here so I don't think we've seen the complete list but we know that there were 1500 something like 850 developers so it was a lot of people who could have seen those photos I also have a low all of the Facebook data breaches this year this is maybe what I'm. Less concerned about what I think about the photos I take with their Facebook app but don't upload them it's like bad selfie. Photos right it's like it's stuff that I probably don't want to develop or to have but I'm not going to freak out of this as opposed to something like say Cambridge analytic for example and I know that you've also been following the Google hearing that happened this week. K c n n You wrote an article that was very critical that the hearing taking to task both C.E.O.'s tech C.E.O.'s and lawmakers for not doing a better job of clarifying problems around issues like data privacy how do you think or why why do you think 1st of all they're not doing a good job Well I think in situations like this the sides keep talking past each other and on the lawmakers side they often seem to you fundamentally misunderstand how the platform works sometimes in ways that feel intentional like they're trying to rally their base for their part I think the C.E.O.'s including Sundar in this case they just try to say as little as possible where I think they would have an opportunity to answer the spirit of the lawmakers question even if the lawmakers don't get the details exactly right so how can they do better well I would love to see the lawmakers developes of basic platform literacy So for example they could understand that Google has real financial incentives not to make their search results politically biased Google wants to serve as many people as possible and that means serving the best search results it doesn't mean trying to skew things one way or the other and then again on the Sundar Pichai front he faced a lot of questions about what Google is doing in China and all he would really say about it is we have no plans to launch right now his answers were irrelevant by the time the hearing was over and we actually know that Google has invested a lot in developing some kinds of products for China so I would love to see them give better answers to those questions in the future I'd love to see lawmakers actually make some was important. In that hearing is he's Ok with the g.d.p. Or so regulation in the United States and we continue to have these hearings have a. We had this year now. Half a dozen member Jack Dorsey point in time there's actually build consensus privacy groups tech companies. Everyone said Ok here's a framework for what we'd be fine with and you actually have privacy groups and tech companies not that far apart so I do think we'll see that in the new year and we're 20 years into the Internet in 10 years into social media and mobile phones and we still haven't developed these kind of laws to address. Those services that have really changed how we interact with each other and how we interact with the world and then to in this point you think that 2019 with the new Congress in place we will see more regulation Well it depends on if the Democrats really make that hard part of their platform right they're going to get in there and decide what they want to go for and I feel like with all of these hearings and with the backlash from Americans that would be one that they could go for and maybe find some consensus even in the polarized times that are happening in Congress I suspect we will see it because California passed a big privacy law this year that incorporates some of the provisions that folks would like to roll out nationally and that goes into effect in 2020 which means there's kind of a ticking clock and if the tech companies can't reach a consensus by that there's going to be a patchwork of regulations all across the country and that's the nightmare for them the problem that California law is it's not really set in stone what it is they're basically. A paper and said we'll come back to it and tell you what these laws are going to be so until we know what those laws are it's very hard to then see that transfer to the federal level yet you still have to imagine they would light a fire under them somewhat because they don't want a whole passel of laws across the country also want to talk about some more disturbing news about apps that emerged this week apps knowingly tracking our private data once again the New York Times in its latest investigation found that all kinds of apps from those used for tracking weather exercise routines they constantly monitor your location and then sell that information without your knowledge. We find this and how is that you know so I mean it's very valuable and very personal data that is useful very useful to advertisers so stores want to know where you're Out Burger King just launched the thing where you know when they're out they'll tell you if you're within a mile of a McDonald's you can get a free burger so that location data is very valuable but I mean I don't really want people to know when I'm at the doctor or you know so here's the thing you might be using you mention the example of you know a weather app well that weather app to work well needs to know exactly where you are so when that permission comes out you go should weather out be able to know my location always when I'm only in the app and if you click always there always getting your location 247247 that means not only do they know to be the right weather but they actually know where you live because you spend 8 hours a night hopefully in her house each night and if they're selling that data so what I'd like to see is not just permissions can they use the can they use the location I would like to see it them have to disclose whether they're going to use that internally or share it with anyone else and you know we're talking about this before and really until we know better I would just not give apps particularly permission to always use that location No Do you think no you do not have access to my location let's get using it I want to talk about the way as well that is the major story. At Washington's behest Canadian authorities arrested a top hallway executive this is the major Chinese telecom company and u.s. Prosecutors say that she violated American sanctions against Iran Jeremy there's a lot of this between u.s. Companies particularly in Silicon Valley and China what's been the reaction in Silicon Valley Well it's been fear about going to China I mean I feel like every exact now who has to go to China and back is worried about going to China and facing reprisal we have learned to Canadian nationals have been arrested in China a prominent Canadian that. And that's just going to create worry about going to China and being in China and dealing with China and what the reaction is going to be from I think I take this think that it's changing their travel plans that I think individuals are you know early on we heard Cisco may be considering stopping all executive travel to China than they relax it but I think you know you know you just don't know if you are an executive that means you're a person do you really want to risk your families your safety and your family's integrity to go on a business trip and I think that is the danger of this whether they had cause or not you know it's the type of thing that's very easy to escalate and very hard to rein back and that's the danger of all of our kind of brinksmanship with China right now is nobody's really stood up to China like this how are they going to react what is what is the actions are they going to take and it's scary to think about what they could do and so we're going to continue to think about it we see what they actually do you know sort of just feels like this trade war has been escalating nonstop for a year now the stakes keep getting higher and it doesn't seem like anyone at the top of their country is really invested in making it stop any time soon and I think what you have that's really interesting it is going to be an issue for a while if you have both countries see their tech industries as key to their strategic independence at the same time the way the tech industry is structured today China and the u.s. Are incredibly independent interdependent on one another you have a lot of Chinese money invested in Chinese money in tech companies you have China needs u.s. Silicon today they need the chips from Qualcomm to make their phones but the u.s. Needs those phones to be made in China to serve the u.s. Market so as much as each side would love to be in are not dependent on one another they really are today right all interesting to follow in a free and also Jeremy Owens thank you all for your time thankfully. One of California's new legislative session underway housing is some. The top issues one attempt to address the state's intractable housing crisis is Senate Bill 50 which would require high density residential developments near major transit stations the legislation is a revision of another bill that died in committee earlier this year the new version incorporates more protections for neighborhoods at risk of displacement and education and also targets wealthier communities for development Joining me now to discuss this are State Senator Scott Wiener the bill's sponsor and also law professor Ethan l. Kind who studies transportation and land use law at u.c. Berkeley thank you both for being here thank you to give Senator we know this is the 2nd time he's introducing legislation of this type to require high density residential development near transit hubs What are you hoping to accomplish with this. We have a terrible housing crisis in California housing deficit of 3500000 homes which is equal to the deficit in the other 49 states combined and we see the results with working families being pushed out people being pushed into homelessness young people are unable to get a foothold and we have to take real action so as we build those 3 and a half 1000000 homes what we don't want to do is keep building sprawl further and further away so people of 2 hour commute so we're building in wildfire zones we want to put that housing near public transportation and your jobs but the 1st version of your bill though died in committee and one of the major complaints was that it mandated development in primarily disadvantaged communities things those are primarily the neighborhoods that are closest to major transit yet it's fair to wealthier cities what changes that you made to address those concerns sure and to be clear the prior bill did include wealthy communities as well but it was disproportionately in low income areas we took their criticism to heart and so right now the current bill that allows the lead implementation and low income communities are at risk of this place so that local communities can plan to prevent displaced. And it also includes communities that may not have a lot of transit but have a lot of jobs people might drive but they're driving shorter distances and right now one example Palo Alto Mountain View where a lot of the tech companies are Cupertino there are various cities also in Southern California fall in that category and we have a problem now where we want we know we need the housing to go by transit and jobs but in so many of our areas that our job centers that are transit centers apartment buildings that are beyond only single family homes are allowed which is not sustainable so Professor l. Kind regarding the provision that Senator we know just mentioned the one that applies to what you're calling job areas right like you know where Apple is our poll out to a mountain view. How big a shift is that in California housing policy because up until now really local governments have a lot of say over development in their cities Yeah absolutely and that's a tradition in California many other states of local control where local governments cities and counties get to say what the zoning is going to be how tall buildings are how far apart they're going to be from each other and the result of that is that we've seen over and over and over again these cities these counties say no to new housing and so in terms of having a jobs rich housing provision in this new legislation have to see how that's defined but I think the Silicon Valley communities here in the Bay Area are really good poster child for that they've been very willing to greenlight projects that bring in a lot of jobs but not the commensurate housing and so what they're saying is we want all of these workers to be housed elsewhere outside of our community and we want to essentially put those burdens of their commuting on everyone else because then people are clogging up the freeways for the whole region so what has been the reaction from those cities to this latest version of the bill is the 50 well they've been uniformly opposed to any loss of their sovereignty over land use and that's been the big battle in California and that's why you haven't seen legislation really until Senator wieners s.b.a. 27 and then now as b. 50 that's really tried to. I mean in some of the local control but that's a very powerful dynamic there very powerful interest group but some of our wealthiest communities they like their communities low density and so this is a big fight with them and I think the question is Is the coalition in favor all those people who weren't fortunate enough to buy homes when homes were cheaper and tax burdens were lower for all is that discontent enough to push this over the finish line and that but there's another point that some critics are making too is that transit near housing makes sense in places where there's a comprehensive transit system like New York for example we don't really have something like that here in the Bay Area unless you're in the city in San Francisco that it works fairly well so how can your bill be truly effective how many people can it actually serve. We actually especially in the Bay Area we have quite a bit of trams that. Of course San Francisco but Caltrain and bar and we do have quite a few high frequency bus lines because buses are included in the legislation in Los Angeles they're building God bless an enormous number of new rail and subway lines so we are seeing increased investment and one of the reasons in this new bill that we included job rich areas was to be clear that you can be a hub world people work even if you don't have transit so we want to make sure we're addressing both but we the core principle here is people should be able to live near where they work and near public transportation and right now because of. Restrictive zoning they can't do that people are basically being kicked out and then there are there are examples of other regions with a public transportation situation similar to the Bay Area where high density housing has worked and succeeded in housing more people you have some ways are really going back to the original vision of what cities were they were walkable very vibrant places that people could live in more compact neighborhoods and we see examples of that all over the. World here more locally in the u.s. I think Portland is a very good example of a community that's really tried to focus development inward and boost their transit system Seattle has taken some really progressive steps in the last decade or so and so you see transit ridership increasing You see home prices generally stabilizing there so there certainly are models that we can draw from is it a cultural problem in California do you think with the suburban sprawl Well California certainly pioneered the auto dependent type of lifestyle in particular now you see it across the west with Phoenix Vegas parts of Texas so we definitely pioneered it but I think there's a lot of people who really want that kind of an urban lifestyle you see the skyrocketing demand when there are neighborhoods that provide that kind of lifestyle I mean you think of lots of neighborhoods in San Francisco Rockridge for example they're very desirable so there is a lot of demand for it we just haven't been good at building it primarily because of the pressure from the single family home owner groups that don't want to see those types of neighborhoods built and Scott and you've also coauthored another ballot measure. A ballot measure as opposed to this piece of this bill that you have and this is the one that targets the 2020 ballot it would be peeled a clause in California's constitution Article $34.00 that bans cities and counties from being or buying low income housing without a majority vote of taxpayers this is something that's been in place since 1950 How does it hurt How is saying. It's really hard to believe but Article $34.00 is part of progressive California the Constitution and it is a racist class of relic of a time period where people wanted to keep largely black people out of their neighborhoods and certainly poor people out of their neighborhoods and so what happened was that after World War 2 there was a significant migration of African-American people from the south primarily to California and so when San Francisco other places had a growing African-American population and some people got really upset that African-Americans were moving into the. Neighborhoods So what advantage really was to slow down construction write it may developers have to show that they know more than 49 percent of funding for their projects came from cover so they could service constitutional amendment that was passed said that it is illegal for a city to build public low income housing without putting it out to a vote of the people it's the only kind of housing that the Constitution requires to have a vote of the people and we need to get rid of us and Professor we only have about 30 seconds remaining But what is your biggest fear. Of what will happen if we don't resolve this housing crisis well we're going to see continued economic inequality what I'm really concerned about as of the way California is going we're only going to have homes affordable to very privileged the very wealthy the very elite and were hemorrhaging our middle class so unless we solve this I'm really worried about having a very unequal state as well as an environmentally unsustainable one All right Professor Ethan Al Qaim with u.c. Berkeley and State Senator Scott Wiener thank you for joining us thank you and that will do it for us as always you can find more of our coverage at k.q.e.d. Dot org slash news with m 20 thank you for joining us. Thanks for members and community partners for their support. Starting late December 16th. A 500000000 year old star cluster climbs high overhead during late fall and winter it's not quite visible to the unaided eye but it's a fairly easy target for binoculars Messiaen 37 probably. Is about 5000 light years away and it contains about 500 known stars and it could have even more stars but they've been to face or too far from the clusters pack center for astronomers to take them out we know the clusters age because of its population of stars when a cluster like m $37.00 forms it has a mixture of stars of all sizes and masses m $37.00 is basically bereft of the 2 heaviest classes of stars which burn out quickly but it has quite a few of the next class which last longer since we know how long it takes all of those stars to expire we have a pretty good idea of the clusters. Longer than the lifespans of the heaviest stars but shorter than the spans of medium mass stars when you plug in all the numbers it works out to about half a 1000000000 years barely more than 110th the age of the sun. Is in the east northeast as darkness falls it consists of a Pentagon of stars with brilliant capella at its top left point m $37.00 is a little below the figure in modest binoculars it looks like a fuzzy star higher power binoculars reveal many of the clusters individual stars a family of stars but still quite young tomorrow looking for signs of life for the University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory and Sandy would. Check Ripley's Bay Area kids is coming up next here on k.q.e.d. F.m. San Francisco in. Highland Sacramento. We have making contact coming up at 1030 the time now it's 10 o'clock. The Kramer data. Amazing. I think that economists have left out. A. Check Please Bay Area is made possible by the members of k.q.e.d. And by Redwood community banking for the North Bay and San Francisco full service business and personal banking concluding programs because this community is our home to. Oakland International Airport. Now with flights all over the world I fly away came. School coding school for kids with 9 Bay Area locations providing individualized immersion methodology the coater school learn to code change the world. She's newly opened mission Burnell hospital with comprehensive maternity services and pediatric after hours care. Mission Burnell. And Leslie says Rocco welcome to check please Bay Area the show regular Bay Area residents review and talk about their favorite restaurants we have 3 guests and each one recommends one of their favorite spots in the other to go check them out to see what they think but this week a very special twist as we invite kids to take a seat at the check please table 12 year old Bella is an avid baker after school she loves whipping up cookies and tarts as fast as she can and eating pretty much all of them before her little brother gets home and 13 year old didn't go goes by pickles nickname inspired by her favorite hockey player it's also appropriate for a kid completely obsessed with savory bites of every kind but 1st 13 year old Adam spend 6 days a week in the pool playing competitive water polo after those grueling practices he is always starving Luckily he's found the perfect way to refuel with big portions of fresh and flavorful Pakistani cuisine at Zareen Palo Alto. I want people to experience the hospitality of facts and I want people to come and see the complex we have in this land of spices the Roma. The people who go on Wednesday. You know that is right but. Still Growing up in Turkey and then I came here to the state I miss my people I try to create their recipes based on my childhood memories maybe some of. My mom's recipes so they've been tempted and we double grab them so they will just be right all these spicy foods and cuisines my dad his really his spicy food he grew up with all around him so you introduced me to and you love it I love it. Yes I love the place my food it's amazing so what is it about Serene's that keeps bringing you back time and time again why do you love it so much atmosphere and the food is really warm area it's nice clean customers they're super nice and then just the feel of it they have books all along the lines. Sit down and read while you wait for your order food comes rather quick which I like to and the service is always amazing what I would go to I go to dish would be a silver spoon prox rule. Roll around with grilled cheese and chicken with uncooked yellow onion and green chutney and it's wrapped in this really warm for Auto which is. Just so filling and satisfying and tastes amazing not to be only one of them are. On average about 3 really so besides the wraps What else do you get I would normally get the chicken soup. Burger also most are perfectly Chris and with think season mince chicken in them and it's just amazing and super war. Warm a little into space even that nice feeling on your tongue which I love and enjoy and the job the burger is like Schumer or more ordinary burger it's the x. Show you feel it's more softer so that kind of melts more in your mouth has that extra spice which is amazing and how many of those if you had all you want I mean what was your experience when you might pick off Oh I think are the found a new favorite restaurant. 5 over there I love that because you know growing up I've eaten Indian my whole lot.