Fellow students, take a seat and prepare to be shocked: It appears as if the government is actually on our side.

Last week, state legislators introduced the California State University Reform, Trust and Responsibility Act in an effort to shed light on the largely secretive financial operations of the CSU administration. With a budget and benefits system that has drawn considerable criticism, and an angry faculty on the verge of a strike, it is in everyone’s best interest that this bill is passed.

The bill, AB 1413, was introduced by California Assemblyman Anthony Portantino, D-La Canada, who told Bay Area newspapers that a two-day series in the San Francisco Chronicle last summer revealing the inner workings of the top echelon of the CSU prompted him to craft the legislation. Portantino said that the bill would aim to restore public trust in the nation’s largest four-year public university system.

This is the first major action to finally get the top CSU execs back in check. For some time, the priorities and mission of the CSU have been shifted away from the 400,000 students and 23,000 faculty members that make up the nation's largest public university system and instead worked in the interests of the top 28 execs. This is a giant step in the right direction to repair the dysfunctional salary structure and narrow the income gap. We must emphasize, however, that it will take several more giant steps before our confidence in the system is restored.

AB 1413 has several key points that work the re-humanize the unusually powerful administration. First, there will be no more paying CSU executives for professorships when they are not actually teaching classes. It is embarrassing that such a practice is even going on. If executives want to get paid for the day-to-day workings of the university, they will have to come back to earth and hold a real position.

AB 1413 will also shed light on the financial operations of the Board of Trustees, which are currently carried out without public discretion and have become the focal point of the CFA and student concern. The California Post-Secondary Education Commission would be required to closely watch the finances of the CSU, and would report regularly on state funds going toward instruction compared to those going toward the administration. We are betting that a lot of those perks and rewards lavished on top executives and the confusing "transition pay" for exiting officials (even when some leave the state) will begin to be doled out far less frequently if the bill passes.

By creating a more transparent budget, we believe the bill would significantly clarify our currently inexplicable financial crises.

CSU has not formally commented on the proposed bill, although we predict that it will be met with indignation. Naturally, it doesn’t want to lose out on its cushy perks and be held accountable for its inner dealings that have made being at the top so much more rewarding than, say, actually teaching.

We have watched as our fees have spiraled out of control and our teachers have been bogged down with increased workloads and unfair pay, all while the administration doled out nearly $4 million to exiting executives. We applaud Portantino's efforts and foresee more action to re-establish the mission of the university, but it is going to take considerable change to earn our trust back. We hope this bill prompts a series of changes addressing issues such as over enrollment, student fees, and the increased workload of teachers.

We commend legislators for introducing this bill and urge them to keep going in this direction. Transparency of financial decisions and legitimate professorship requirements are crucial to restoring the true mission of the CSU system. We need this, and so do our teachers.