Transparency is the word from the state's capital to SF State as several bills aimed at reforming higher education, introduced by Sen. Leland Yee, make their way through the state senate.

If passed, the three bills - known as the Higher Education Reform Bills - will have numerous effects on CSU, UC and community college systems, ranging from salary caps to changing California's Public Records Act and extending whistle-blower protection to UC employees. As of March 9 the bills had moved to the committee of education.

One bill, SB 217, would place salary caps on all university executives the years when student tuition or fees are increased.

The caps are to discourage using fee hikes as an easy fix during hard economic times, said Yee, who received his master's at SF State and his bachelor's from the University of California at Berkeley.

"With the tuition and fee hikes, I worry if we are pushing out people who can't afford it," Yee said.

Yee is concerned about the compensation that executives receive, citing that the "perks" are going "a little overboard."

"Executive compensation has been out of control in both salary and benefit," he said.

This idea is shared by other officials.

"This is exactly the type of legislation we felt was needed," said Lillian Taiz, California Faculty Association president, "especially in times like these."

The CFA is a co-sponsor of the bill.

There has been praise for the legislation, but some feel there is more to be done to help California's school budget issues.

"Senator Yee's reform bill is really just a small Band-Aid on the large problems around our educational system here in California," said Francis Mead, an organizer for Student Unity and Power, the group that coordinated the walkout on March 12.

"Although I am happy to hear that this bill will not continue to raise the salary of the college ecutives and administration while students fee's go up," she said, "it is still not enough, and I see it as too little too late."

Another aspect of the proposed legislation that greatly affects the CSU system is an amendment to the California's Public Record Act, SB 218. CPRA allows the public the right to certain information such as meeting records and filings both paper and electronic that have anything to do with public funding or that performs government functions.

"I think it's important that we make colleges and universities affordable," said Yee, the senator for San Francisco and San Mateo counties. "Part of doing that is to provide greater oversight and transparency."

If Yee has his way, the CPRA will also include "auxiliary organizations" on campus that receive government funding or perform what can be considered a government function, such as the bookstore or university foundations.

"We believe everything would be affected by the ability to understand what resources are available to the university," said Taiz, a history professor at Cal State LA. "It's appropriate for the times and for students."

Though the CFA is enthusiastic about the reforms that Yee is pushing for, he is not so optimistic concerning the response of the CSU Board of Trustees or the UC Board of Regents.

"I do expect that UC and CSU will in fact be opposing our bill. They have opposed similar bills in the past," he said.

At this time, the CSU system has issued no statement concerning their views toward the bills put forth, stating that they have not fully looked into the effects the bill will have on the university.

CSU spokesperson Erik Fallis did state that it was important to note that in response to the governor's December budget proposal, the CSU immediately placed a salary freeze for vice presidents', presidents', vice chancellors' and the chancellor's salaries for the 2009-10 budget year.

Yee however, stated that he would prefer that such a decision be made by the senate so the power to undo the decision requires a vote of the legislature and the signature of the governor.

The final bill, SB 219, gives the same whistleblower protection that the CSU and community colleges have to UC employees.