OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR 

VIA ECF 

The Honorable Dennis Montali 

United States Bankruptcy Court 

Northern District of California 

November l , 2019 

450 Golden Gate Avenue, 16th Floor 

San Francisco, CA 94102 

Re: In re PG&E Corp. and Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Case No. 19-

30088 (DMl (the "Chapter 11 Cases") 

Your Honor: 

The State of California greatly appreciates the efforts you are making to advance 

the Chapter 11 Cases on a timeframe that meets the requirements of AB 1054 -

most recently in appointing Retired Bankruptcy Judge Randall J. Newsome as a 

mediator to accelerate the confirmation of a chapter 11 plan. As you recognized 

in the Order Appointing Mediator [Docket No. 4499], the "parties are polarized; 

the emotions are running higher and higher, the staggering costs (economic and 

otherwise) are multiplying daily and very recent events ... might make a 

successful reorganization even more of a challenge." Unfortunately, PG&E's 

stakeholders continue to litigate every issue at the expense of the people of 

California. Very recent events have made it clear that the state must act. 

California is meeting the challenges of the new wildfire reality. I am proud that, in 

the face of historic winds and extreme fire danger, the state mitigated the 

damage from fast moving fires such as the Kincade fire. While California is 

meeting the challenge, PG&E is not. PG&E's recent filings acknowledge that its 

equipment may have contributed to several wildfires, including the Kincade fire. 

PG&E's grid is antiquated and suffers from years of underinvestment. Millions of 

Californians lost power for days. Far too many households and businesses were 

without power for more than a week. PG&E's execution of preemptive deenergization of power lines put lives and property at risk. 

GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM• SACRAMENTO, CA 95814 • (916) 445-2841 

Case: 19-30088 Doc# 4550 Filed: 11/01/19 Entered: 11/01/19 14:40:35 Page 1 of ~-

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AB 1054 requires PG&E to make fundamental changes. Earlier this week, the 

Public Utilities Commission took necessary action consistent with the need for 

change starting now. PG&E's restructuring must also meet the needs of 

Californians and that change must start ahead of next year's fire season. 

Therefore, I have requested that the parties-in-interest in the PG&E bankruptcy 

come to Sacramento next week to address how we can accelerate the 

bankruptcy. My advisors also spoke to Judge Newsome to discuss how we can 

work together to bring the bankruptcy process to a quick resolution. 

My goal is to encourage those parties to achieve a swift and consensual 

resolution to the Chapter 11 Cases that creates a new entity, one that better 

reflects our California values and advances the safety transformations that are 

required. It is my hope that the stakeholders in PG&E will put parochial interests 

aside and reach a negotiated resolution in the near term. If the parties fail to 

reach an agreement quickly to begin this process of transformation, the state will 

intervene to restructure the utility. Under either scenario, the state must ensure 

that Californians have a utility that provides safe, reliable, and affordable power. 

Gavin Newsom 

Governor of the State of California 

cc: 

The Honorable William Haskell Alsup 

United States District Judge 

United States District Court for the Northern District of California 

The Honorable James Donato 

United States District Judge 

United States District Court for the Northern District of California 

The Honorable Teri L. Jackson 

Superior Court Judge 

Superior Court of the State of California, Department 613 

Case: 19-30088 Doc# 4550 Filed: 11/01/19 Entered: 11/01/19 14:40:35 Page 2 of

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