In the News

On Feb. 12, Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) introduced Senate Bill 240. The bill would establish polling places at California State University and University of California campuses. It is slated to go through the Senate on or after March 15.

Campaign funding should operate in full public view, not hide behind a veil of legal technicalities. California legislators should back state efforts to compel greater disclosure of the “dark money” flowing into California elections. But Congress and federal elections officials should also close loopholes that allow such secrecy.

The wickedly incomprehensible massacre of little children and their teachers in Connecticut last week is occasion for deepest sorrow. But it is also time for action dealing with firearms and mental illness.

The best place to start is to reinstate the federal assault weapons ban that was in place between 1994 and 2004, when it was allowed to expire.

It didn't take long for University of California Riverside President Timothy P. White to make a good impression in his new job as chancellor of the Cal State University system.

White won't take over the CSU post until retiring Chancellor Charles Reed steps down Dec. 31. But already he has shown he understands the value of symbolism and of showing the way for others.

The CSU board was set to approve the administration's recommended annual salary of $421,500 for White, the amount that Reed currently earns, but White wouldn't have it.

The issue: Brown signs measure giving some teeth to the state’s open meetings law

Gov. Jerry Brown and the state Legislature have sent a strong message to local government: Don’t cheat the system, and if you do, prepare to be held accountable.

At issue was enforcement of the state’s open meetings law, the Ralph M. Brown Act.

A NEW LAW related to the Brown Act overturns an appellate court’s decision in a case from Tulare County in which the court ruled that existing law does not provide a remedy for past violations by a local agency.

Gov. Jerry Brown is poring over 700-plus bills that touch on farmworkers, prisons and gun rights, to name just a few topics. But as he weighs the pros and cons of each bill, he'll be thinking of something else: how to avoid angering interest groups he needs to pass Proposition 30, a ballot measure to raise taxes and save his budget.

It's a balancing act that voters should watch carefully.

The California Legislature has taken a positive step to offer a second chance to some prison inmates who were juveniles when they were sentenced to life without the possibility of parole.

The Star commends legislators for dealing with this controversial topic in a responsible and appropriate way by approving Senate Bill 9.

California has strong laws guaranteeing government openness, but that guarantee sometimes faces obstacles. A new bill by Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, addresses a big one. It would require government agencies when replacing existing technology systems to switch to software that presents data in a searchable format, such as Word or Excel.

The gun debate is back on in California, thanks to an effort by Democrats to ban the kind of quickly replaceable ammunition magazines that allow rifles and shotguns to be fired like assault weapons.

Sen. Leland Yee, the author of Senate Bill 249, and Attorney General Kamala Harris, who has spoken in support, say it would close a dangerous loophole in state law. The National Rifle Association and other opponents of the bill say it's an overreaction to the recent mass shootings in Colorado and Wisconsin and would lead to an unconstitutional "gun confiscation."