In My Own Words

Today marks the beginning of Sunshine Week in California to promote government transparency.

Since 2005, Sunshine Week has acted as a rallying point for Americans to demand transparency and accountability from their government.

BY LELAND Y. YEE

As we continue through the holiday shopping season, it is important for parents and other family members to consider the content of games they may be purchasing for children.

Here in California, we have been hard at work trying to protect children from the harmful effects of excessively violent video games.

By Senator Leland Y. Yee, Ph.D. and Barry Zevin MD

California is one of only three states in the U.S. that still prohibits pharmacists from selling a syringe without a prescription from a physician.

May 19th marks World Hepatitis Awareness Day - a great opportunity for California to take action to help prevent liver cancer and liver disease caused by hepatitis C and B.

By State Senator Leland Yee

As a result of a legal settlement at a California high school, school administrators are on notice to stop censoring student speech.

After settling an 18-month legal battle, Fallbrook Union High School District must pay nearly $28,000 as a result of a principal violating the speech rights of student journalists and unfairly retaliating against the high school's newspaper advisor.

By Senator Leland Yee

In 1879, the University of California board of regents was granted autonomy on most issues related to the management of the institution and thus has been rarely subject to public oversight. As a result, statutory laws are generally not binding over the UC, leaving an appointed and unresponsive board with exclusive authority to run the system in a manner often not reflective of the will of the people.

All too frequently, the university has violated the public trust.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today signed into law a bill I authored that victim advocates believe will result in more women coming forward to law enforcement after falling victim to domestic violence. Senate Bill 1356, a commonsense and much-needed law, protects domestic violence survivors from the threat of incarceration when they refuse to testify against their abuser in court.

Recently newspapers, broadcasters, online media outlets, schools, libraries, and civic groups across the country celebrated open government with Sunshine Week 2008. Here in California, I am working with First Amendment and public access advocates, teachers, students, and labor unions on a series of bills to provide greater transparency of government and increase public access to records that rightfully belong to the people.

Last week, the Los Angeles Times uncovered a smoldering controversy regarding tobacco industry funded research at the University of California (UC). It is puzzling how, in good conscience, the UC can accept such money from a company with an extensive and documented history of marketing their addictive product to teens.

In fact, in August 2006, a federal court condemned the tobacco industry's grant research programs as self-serving investments designed to mislead the public and distort public policy.