Candidate for
State Senator; District 8

Meet Leland Yee

Leland Yee is an educator, child psychologist, husband and father of four who has dedicated his career to strengthening our schools and colleges, protecting our families, and working to improve the quality of life in our communities.

Teacher, educator, child psychologist

Born in China, Leland immigrated to the United States at age 3. He was raised in a working immigrant family and educated in San Francisco public schools. Inspired to help children, Leland earned a Ph.D. in Child Psychology and began working as a therapist in San Francisco's Chinatown.

Leland and his wife, Maxine, raised four children and educated them in public schools. Concerned that all children receive a quality education, Leland campaigned for school reform as a candidate for the San Francisco Board of Education.

In 1988, Leland was elected to the San Francisco School Board. During his eight-year tenure, he successfully championed smaller class sizes, higher quality textbooks, and performance-based standards for teachers and strict fiscal responsibility to ensure that all tax dollars were used effectively.

An Independent Leader

After improving San Francisco schools, Leland was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1996. His strong sense of fiscal responsibility soon earned him appointment as Chair of the Finance Committee. There he acted as an avid fiscal watchdog and spearheaded the creation of the largest "Rainy Day" budget reserve in the history of San Francisco.

After seeing the abuse of the overtime and worker's compensation programs within the city government, Leland employed holdbacks to ensure oversight and accountability.

On the Board, Leland worked hard to protect parks, neighborhoods and open space, championed family day care for working parents, passed landmark legislation--called the General Obligation Bond Accountability Act--giving citizens a say over government bonds and spending, and protected the community by creating jobs for 400 new police officers.

Leland also reached out directly to his constituents by holding budget hearings in San Francisco neighborhoods, making it easier for community members to have a voice in the budgeting process.

Making Our Voices Heard

In 2002, Leland was elected as the first Chinese American Assembly member in the history of San Francisco. In Sacramento, Leland continued to fight for our priorities including quality schools, affordable health care, environmental protection and civil rights. He has passed landmark legislation protecting children from sexual predators and prohibiting the sales of ultra-violent video games to minors.

Leland was honored as the first Asian American to serve as Speaker Pro Tempore. As the second highest-ranking Democrat in the Assembly, Leland was a powerful voice for underserved communities.

He has earned 100% ratings from the Sierra Club, the California Congress of Seniors and the Children's Advocacy Institute. He has also been awarded the Building a State of Equality Award by Equality California.

He has worked to ensure that all Californians have equal rights and that state services are guaranteed to all, no matter what language we speak.

Continuing to Fight for Us

In 2006, Leland won by landslide to become the first Chinese American elected to the State Senate in the history of California. He currently represents the 8th District serving San Francisco and San Mateo Counties.

Over the past four years, Leland has worked tirelessly - getting 46 bills signed into law, with 11 pending before the Governor. Senator Yee has fought for children, mental health services, working families, the environment, open government, consumer protection, and civil rights.

He has led the charge to stop the Governor's disastrous cuts to Domestic Violence Shelters across California. He has exposed the trend of secret deals and off the books accounting in the U.C. and CSU systems and fought to ensure that local schools have the resources they need to give every child a great education. He has a steadfast record of voting "no" on budget cuts to health care, social services and education.

When it comes to standing up for our community, advocating for our children, and demanding fiscal responsibility, no one has been more successful than Leland Yee.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AT: http://www.lelandyee.com/about/impact/