Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Castro Valley, was joined by a constellation of former National Football League stars today at a Sacramento news conference announcing her bill to prevent sports-related concussions among California’s student athletes.

Hayashi’s AB 25, sponsored by the NFL, would require a young athlete who is suspected of having a concussion or head injury in a practice or game to be removed from play for the remainder of the day, and to get written consent from a health care professional and legal guardian in order to return to play.

“Kids believe they need to be tough and play through injuries, so they often return to play too soon,” the lawmaker said. “When it comes to concussions, this kind of enthusiasm can be life-threatening. Athletes who sustain a concussion are more likely to have a second or third incident, increasing the risk of brain swelling and bleeding, which can lead to coma or even death.”

Joining Hayashi this morning were Fred Biletnikoff, an NFL Hall of Fame wide receiver who played with the Oakland Raiders from 1965 through 1978, starred in six Pro Bowls and two Super Bowls and was named MVP of Super Bowl XI; Morris Bradshaw, a former NFL wide receiver who played with the Oakland Raiders from 1974 to 1981 and the New England Patriots in 1982, and is now Senior Administrator for the Oakland Raiders; Eric Davis, a former NFL defensive back who played with the San Francisco 49ers, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and Detroit Lions over 13 seasons, starring in the 1995 and 1996 Pro Bowls and helping the 49ers win Super Bowl XXIX; Leslie “Speedy” Duncan, a former NFL defensive back and four-time Pro Bowler who played for the San Diego Chargers from 1964-1970 and the Washington Redskins from 1971-1974; Jim Otto, an NFL Hall of Fame center who played with the Oakland Raiders from 1960 to 1974, starred in 12 All-Star games and Pro Bowls and Super Bowl II; and Keena Turner, a former Pro Bowl linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers who played 11 NFL seasons from 1980 to 1990 and won four Super Bowl rings, and is now Vice President of Football Affairs for the 49ers.

It’s second down and 10 for Hayashi on the concussion issue. This past January she had introduced AB 1646, which would’ve added training on potentially catastrophic injuries, such as head and neck injuries, asthma attacks, and heatstroke, to the CPR and first aid certification required of all California high school coaches, and AB 1647, which would’ve required athletes suspected of having a concussion to get a doctor’s written permission before returning to play. The former bill petered out in the Assembly Appropriations Committee; the latter was whittled down to merely require state certification for athletic trainers, and then was vetoed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Her new bill seems to have bipartisan support: State Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Moorpark, is the principal co-author.

“As someone who participated in youth sports throughout my life, I know first-hand just how important this legislation is,” he said in a news release. “Student-athletes will oftentimes put the team before their own well-being, so AB 25 is essential in ensuring their safety.”

Hayashi’s office says a recent NFL study found serious memory-related diseases and other health problems in retired athletes to be nearly twenty times the normal rate, and another study of retired professional football players found that players reporting three or more previous concussions were three times more likely to be diagnosed with depression than those with no history of concussion.

Because young people’s heads and necks are still developing, the impact of concussions is often more serious, Hayashi’s office says studies have shown. High school athletes who sustain a concussion are three times more likely to sustain a second concussion, and cumulative head trauma can result in health problems including sleep disorders, memory loss, and depression.

California lawmakers over the past three years raised 79 percent of campaign funds from outside their districts, according to a new study by the data-crunching wizards at Berekeley-based nonpartisan nonprofit MAPLight.org.

MAPLight.org (that’s “MAP” as in “Money In Politics”) found California legislators serving as of Aug. 31, 2009 – 79 Assembly members and 40 Senators – raised $97.9 million in campaign funds from January 2007 through March 2010, with $77.5 million coming from outside the district. About $11.9 (12 percent) came from in-district, while the remaining $8.6 million (9 percent) couldn’t be definitively located.

More than half of the lawmakers (68 out of 117 members, or 58 percent) raised 80 percent or more of their campaign funds from outside their districts; 19 lawmakers raised 90 percent or more of their funds from outside their districts.

“Not a single legislator in California raised the majority of their campaign funds from in-district, where their voters live.” MAPLight.org Executive Director Daniel Newman said in a news release. “Instead of a voter democracy, we have a donor democracy.”

“With out-of-district fundraising at a staggering 80 percent, the problem is not with a few bad apples, but with a rotten barrel,” he said. “This report shows that our campaign finance system is broken. This remote control system works well for wealthy interest groups, but not for voters.”

Here’s how the Bay Area delegation stacked up in percentage of contributions from out of district, and rank among the 119 lawmakers surveyed:

And, in case you’re wondering where the money comes from, the top 15 ZIP codes of contributions to legislators were:

1 Sacramento, CA 95814 – $23,149,034 (23.66%)
2 San Francisco, CA 94105 – $2,034,877 (2.08%)
3 Sacramento, CA 95833 – $1,408,211 (1.44%)
4 Los Angeles, CA 90020 – $1,395,635 (1.43%)
5 Burlingame CA, 94010 – $1,280,137 (1.31%)
6 Los Angeles, CA 90071 – $1,054,345 (1.08%)
7 Newport Beach, CA 92660 –$972,717 (0.99%)
8 Sacramento, CA 95811 – $843,928 (0.86%)
9 Sacramento, CA 95816 – $839,730 (0.86%)
10 Los Angeles, CA 90017 – $741,449 (0.76%)
11 Oakland, CA 94612 – $698,200 (0.71%)
12 Sacramento. CA 95834 – $669,150 (0.68%)
13 Pasadena, CA 91101 – $625,373 (0.64%)
14 Los Angeles, CA 90010 – $621,677 (0.64%)
15 San Francisco, CA 94111 – $583,888 (0.60%)

MAPLight.org is among supporters of Proposition 15, the California Fair Elections Act, which would try out a system of public financing of election campaigns in the 2014 and 2018 elections for Secretary of State, funded by an increase in lobbyist registration fees.

A gander at Bay Area state lawmakers’ cash on hand at the end of 2009 reveals that two are way ahead of the pack.

In the East Bay, Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Castro Valley, had $367,751.57 in her campaign coffers at last year’s end, more than twice the amount of any other Bay Area Assembly member seeking re-election in 2010; the next-closest is Tom Ammiano, D-San Francisco, at $182,390.30.

It looks like the bulk of Hayashi’s contributions have come from labor unions and health-care-related interest groups – not surprising, given she chairs to the Assembly Business and Professions Committee. Still, that’s a lot of heft for someone who’s unlikely to face a primary election challenge, and who represents an overwhelmingly Democratic district.

There were unsubstantiated rumors last year that Hayashi might mount a primary challenge to state Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro (who had a hefty $2207,368.04 in the bank at year’s end), but she has filed no such notice of intent with the Secretary of State’s office. Then again, I don’t see that she has an Assembly re-election Web site up. Then again again, she probably doesn’t need one yet.

But the Bay Area’s biggest pot o’ gold belongs to state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, who had $1,058,674.86 in the bank at 2009’s end. Beyond Chron has an interesting rundown on where a good chunk of that money is coming from, and why.

Although Yee is seeking re-election this year, he’s also rumored to be preparing for a San Francisco mayoral run in 2011. If so, he could end up needing a lot of cash in a crowded race against Supervisor Bevan Dufty, City Attorney Dennis Herrera and Assessor Phil Ting, and possibly Public Defender Jeff Adachi and District Attorney Kamala Harris, too (if Harris doesn’t prevail in this year’s state Attorney General’s race, as she’s hoping).

The region’s barest cupboard is that of state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who had $19,296.47 in the bank at year’s end. But he’s not up for re-election until 2012, so he has plenty of time to beef up the bankroll.

UPDATE @ 11:36 A.M. FRIDAY 2/12: Yee takes umbrage at Beyond Chron’s characterization of his votes. From a letter he sent to Beyond Chron:

The author attacked my voting record on 7 different health care bills that came before me in the State Senate. Regrettably, the author was in such a rush to play “gotcha politics,” talk about “flip-flopping” and “blue-dog Democrats”, that he never called or contacted my office to get the facts.

The result is all too familiar: on 5 of the 7 bills in question, the author was simply dead wrong on the facts. While accidents happen, it is hard to believe that anyone who was writing a hit piece as vitriolic as this one would just accidentally get over 70% of their facts wrong.

Yee said four of the votes at issue were held on the same day, on which he was absent to attend his daughter’s wedding. Beyond Chron called a fifth, on a bill to create a public, single-payer health care system, a flip-flop on Yee’s part, but Yee said the bill had been gutted and amended into something entirely different in the year between his votes.

As the governor wielded his pen last night, state lawmakers from Alameda County saw victories on issues such as human trafficking, medical insurance recission and traffic congestion as well as defeats on issues such as ballot measure petition reform, trade agreements and electronic cigarettes.

Follow me after the jump for details on some of the winners and losers…
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(UPDATE @ 11 A.M. MONDAY 10/12: I’ve updated this post throughout to denote which bills the governor signed and which bills he vetoed.)

Lisa and I worked up a story about East Bay lawmakers’ bills being held ransom as Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger threatens a blanket veto this weekend unless Legislative leaders cut a deal on the state’s water problems. As print space is limited, I thought I’d post some of the lawmakers’ comments in fuller form here.

Assembly Majority Leader and state Attorney General candidate Alberto Torrico, D-Newark, said Friday that if the governor follows through on his veto threat, he’ll unveil a bill Monday explicitly banning exactly this type of legislative and executive “extortion” in the future. Torrico had asked state Attorney General Jerry Brown to probe whether the blanket veto threat already violates the California Constitution’s and Penal Code’s ban on such quid pro quos, but Brown said Friday he’ll not do so.

“This is a new low for the governor, but it really is in keeping with the tenor and tone in Sacramento of negotiation through ransom notes,” Torrico said.

Torrico cited Legislative Republicans’ successful moves in recent years to exact policy wins such as tax breaks for the horse-racing industry and a ballot measure that would create an open-primary electoral system, in return for their votes on the state budget.

He’s concerned about three bills he authored: AB 1049, (VETOED) adding the state Safely Surrendered Baby Fund to the state income tax return form’s voluntary contributions section; AB 1270, (VETOED) making it easier for victimss to receive compensation from the Victim’s Compensation and Government Claims Board in a timely manner by requiring the board to have written procedures and time frames in place as suggested by a state audit report; and AB 665, (SIGNED) to ensure that federal incentive payments given to California for increasing the number of youth adopted out of foster care will be distributed to counties to fund activities to improve legal permanency outcomes for foster youth ages nine or older.

Staffers for state Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, said she’s concerned about two bills she has waiting on the governor’s desk.

SB 83 (SIGNED) would let county transportation planning agencies put measures on their counties’ ballots to impose fees of up to $10 per vehicle to raise money for local projects to ease traffic congestion. The Senate passed this on a 23-17 vote, the Assembly on a 46-31 vote.

And Hancock’s SB 279 (VETOED) would let cities and counties create local financing authorities to help property owners pay up front for solar-energy systems, energy efficiency improvements and water conservation measures; initial funding would come from a bond fund to be repaid over time through an assessment on the tax bills of the participating property owners. The Senate passed this 25-8, the Assembly 58-19.

State Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, noted she has 14 bills awaiting the governor’s action – more than any other Senator – dealing with issues such as lengthening the notice given to the state and requiring public hearings before a hospital emergency room can be shut down (SB 196, VETOED); halting sales of electronic cigarettes, currently unregulated and sometimes marketed to children (SB 400, VETOED); updating the list of public school facilities that need to be seismically retrofitted (SB 305, VETOED); and reducing fraud by barring petition signature gatherers from being paid per signature (SB 34, VETOED).

“Every member of the legislature works long and hard to craft meaningful legislation. The bills would not be on the Governor’s desk if they did not have merit,” she said. “These bills are not just pieces of paper. Each one will have an impact on Californian’s lives.”

Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Castro Valley, said she believes the governor will review every bill on its own merit

“These are vital issues to the people of California and I am sure that he will give careful consideration to each of these bills,” she said, noting she has 13 bills on the govenror’s desk. “My top priorities include AB 1386, (SIGNED) which will resolve a 40-year old dispute over a Caltrans project in my district and address local transportation and housing needs.”

She’s also concerned about AB 73, (SIGNED) without which Alameda County will risk losing its groundbreaking violence prevention program, Hayashi said. “Lastly, AB 108 (SIGNED) is critically important, because we need to protect consumers from having their health insurance policies rescinded, especially at the very moment they need costly treatment and life-saving services”

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, this afternoon announced that Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Castro Valley, and Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, will be among the 10 members of her chamber (eight Democrats and two Republicans) serving on the Joint Select Committee on Reform.

Bass and state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, are forming the panel with the goals of making the Legislature more transparent and effective and making state government more efficient and customer friendly. Steinberg announced his appointments last week, including state Sen. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Concord, as co-chairman and state Sen. Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, as a member.

Hill issued a statement saying he’s “eager to answer the call of our constituents for a more efficient and transparent government. I’m confident this group will lead the way to a more productive government with thorough analysis of potential reforms.”

Bass said her appointees “are ready to hit the ground running on reforms. I look forward to the Committee’s recommendations as they work throughout the coming weeks to produce a roadmap to help California work better.”

According to last week’s news release announcing the committee’s formation, the panel will be tasked with:

- Giving Californians more value for their tax dollars by making government more efficient and accountable.

- Prioritizing key issues, so government makes the tough decisions and only turns to the voters when absolutely necessary.

- Cutting through the gridlock caused by outmoded rules and undue partisanship.

- Making government more transparent and accessible from around the state.

- Diminishing the influence of special interests.

- Making government more customer-friendly.

- Creating a process that encourages decisions that reflect long-term thinking, not short-term band-aids.

The Public Policy Institute of California found in July that only 17 percent of California adults, 14 percent of registered voters and 10 percent of likely voters it had surveyed approved of the way the state Legislature is handling it’s job, and I’m willing to bet the last two months haven’t brought any significant improvement. Re-instilling faith in our state lawmakers won’t be easy or quick; here’s hoping these and other appointees are up to the task, and that the task itself isn’t inherently impossible.

Whatever beef was happening last week between state Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, and Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Castro Valley, over efforts to preserve the San Leandro Hospital emergency room, it seems to be a thing of the past: The two lawmakers issued a Kum-Ba-Yah news release today announcing that Corbett’s SB 196 had passed the Assembly Health Committee on a 12-5 vote.

The bill would lengthen the notice given to the state before emergency rooms could shut down and require three public hearings to allow for public input before any potential closure. Although a co-sponsor of the bill, Hayashi had refused to vote on it last week, letting it falter one vote short of passage.

“Significant progress was made yesterday after meeting with the California Nurses Association and Senator Ellen Corbett,” Hayashi said in today’s news release. “Several of the concerns that I had expressed about the bill were addressed and I am confident with the collective efforts moving forward. We share a similar goal of saving San Leandro Hospital’s emergency room as it has served nearly 50 years as a vital health care anchor for so many families.”

Said Corbett: “It is critically important that we do everything we can to keep San Leandro Hospital open. It is a vital resource for the community. It has been clear and obvious from all of the public gatherings that have been held that the community is relying on us to keep up the fight to keep the hospital open.”

Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Castro Valley, was accused of some tit-for-tat legislative tactics this week, but her office says it’s much ado about nothing.

Hayashi chairs the Assembly Business and Professions Committee, while state Sen. Gloria Negrete McLeod, D-Chino, chairs the equivalent Senate Business, Professions and Economic Development Committee.

Hayashi’s medical peer-review bill – AB 120, sponsored by the California Medical Association – was to be considered Monday by McLeod’s committee, but Senate committee staffers thought there should be a comprehensive medical peer review bill which would be the sum of parts offered by Hayashi (in AB 120), McLeod (in her SB 700) and state Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley (in his SB 58). To that end, McLeod’s committee offered amendments and gave Hayashi and the CMA a week to mull them over, putting AB 120 on the schedule for the Senate committee’s July 6 hearing.

Several Legislative sources say Hayashi’s reaction was to try to pull eight bills – some of which were McLeod’s own, the rest of which came from her committee – from the Assembly B&P Committee’s Tuesday-morning hearing agenda. Then she tried to scuttle the hearing entirely, the sources claimed; apparently state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg’s office intervened so that as of late Monday night, the hearing was back on, though some of the eight bills still weren’t heard.

“It caused a great deal of anxiety on everybody’s behalf. She … had thrown a lot of people’s lives into flux,” said one Legislative staffer, noting people had flown to Sacramento for the bills’ hearing. “We all scratched our heads.”

“She, with that bill from day one that it got into the Senate, was saying ‘This is the CMA’s biggest priority,’ and everyone else was like, ‘Well, that’s nice,’” said another staffer elsewhere in the Legislature, adding a one-week delay of her bill to insert some consumer-friendly amendments with bipartisan support shouldn’t have caused such a reaction.

The situation ranks among “tiddly-wink issues” compared to the massive budget crisis, this staffer said, and the Pro Tem’s office wasn’t happy that it had to take time during this hellacious week to deal with it. It’s unclear whether this had anything to do with Steinberg’s decision this afternoon to postpone all Senate policy committee meetings until after a budget deal is in place.

But Cory Jasperson, Hayashi’s chief of staff, says that’s not how it went down at all.

“The Business and Professions Committee hearing scheduled for Tuesday, June 30th, was never cancelled or rescheduled. Only the Speaker has the authority to cancel or reschedule committee hearings,” he said. “All of the bills scheduled for the Tuesday morning hearing were heard by the Committee with the exception of three bills authored by Senator Negrete McLeod which the author requested be put over to a later hearing.”

“There has been a lot of confusion in the Capitol over the past few days around the uncertainty of committee hearings in the Assembly and Senate due to the fluidity of on-going budget negotiations,” Jasperson added. “Some committee hearings previously scheduled for Tuesday were rescheduled for Thursday and today the Senate postponed committee hearings indefinitely. For example, some Senate hearings this morning were cancelled mid-hearing and hearings this afternoon were cancelled just minutes before the scheduled start times.”

So it seems as if either there was some honest miscommunication about hearing schedules followed by some state Senate knife-sharpening for Hayashi’s hide, or Hayashi tried to flex some committee-chair muscle and got smacked down.

It’s still a lot of he-said/she-said, but add this to Hayashi’s dust-up with state Sen. Ellen Corbett, D-San Leandro, over their bills to save the San Leandro Hospital emergency room from closure, and it surely seems Hayashi hasn’t been making any friends in the other chamber this week.

Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Castro Valley, introduced legislation today to designate Interstate 580 through Castro Valley as the Sergeant Daniel Sakai Memorial Highway, in honor of one of the four Oakland Police Department officers slain by a gunman in March.

“Sergeant Daniel Sakai served with valor, and his tragic death was a tremendous loss to the community,” she said in her news release. “By naming this section of Highway 580 after Sergeant Sakai, we have the opportunity to pay tribute to his courage, and forever be inspired by the heartfelt dedication and strong values he demonstrated throughout his life.”

Sakai, 35, lived in Castro Valley and is survived by his wife and their 4-year-old daughter.

Assembly Concurrent Resolution 79 goes first to the Assembly Transportation Committee.

At the request of several members, the California State Assembly today adjourned in memory of the four police officers slain in Oakland over the weekend.

From Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley:

“I am shocked and saddened by the horrific deaths of four Oakland police officers. My deepest condolences go out to the families of the officers and the Oakland Police Department. I will remember their service and sacrifice. I also want to express my support and gratitude for all of the law enforcement officials who protect our communities on a daily basis.”

From Assemblywoman Mary Hayashi, D-Castro Valley:

“While we are aware of the risks that our officers go through, we never imagine a loss of this magnitude, and it does not make grieving any easier.

“This violent tragedy that began with a routine traffic stop reminds us how real these risks are, and how much courage is shown by all those who serve in law enforcement.

“This is a terrible loss for so many, not just for the community of Oakland, but for all of us across this state.”

UPDATE @ 7:07 P.M.: From Assemblyman Sandre Swanson, D-Alameda:

“This was one of the most horrific acts in Oakland’s history. These officers made an historic sacrifice, and I have deep appreciation for how neighbors responded to the shooting and led police to the perpetrator. I also believe it is necessary for the entire community to come together to support these officers’ families, as well as the men and women of the police department who continue to put their lives on the line every day for the safety of our community.”

[snip]

“Such a shocking tragedy is a wake-up call to the terrible shortcomings of our criminal justice system. Not only did it utterly fail to rehabilitate this individual, it also released him back into our community without sufficient oversight to keep us safe and keep him from returning to a life of crime. We need to acknowledge these failings, and reform our system so that it truly protects the public and ensures that those who serve their time are rehabilitated and do not re-offend.”

“Most importantly, the State Legislature needs to revisit its regulations and supervision of the sale of assault weapons. These guns have a deadly purpose that far exceeds any recreational use. In the hands of criminals, they expose our police officers to unacceptable risk and further endanger our community.”