SACRAMENTO, CA – In a unanimous and bipartisan vote, the Senate Health Committee passed a bill today by Senator Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park) creating a $50 million research fund that will make California a leader in the fight against childhood cancer.

Senate Bill 934 – The California Pediatric Cancer Research Fund Act – would establish the Childhood Cancer Research Grant Program in California to provide funding to qualified research institutions to support research into the causes, prevention, and treatment of pediatric cancers. The bill would also create the $50 million Andrew Hirschman Pediatric Cancer Research Fund, named in memory of a young California resident who passed away last year from acute myeloid leukemia, to provide the funding for research grants.  

“No parent should lose a child to cancer,” said Senator Rubio. “Twenty percent of children with cancer in the United States will not survive it. Many of those who do survive will experience serious, sometimes life-threatening health effects from their cancer treatment. In the absence of a federal focus on childhood cancer, California must step forward as states like Kentucky and New Jersey have done and establish a state pediatric cancer research fund.” 

“In a nation of wealth, resolve, and innovation, there is no reason for children to suffer and die,” said Ruth Hoffman, CEO of the American Childhood Cancer Organization. “ACCO is grateful to Senator Rubio for her leadership and vision exemplified through SB 934, the California Pediatric Cancer Research Fund Act & Budget Appropriations, which will provide innovative research and cures for the most vulnerable of patients, our nation’s children with cancer.”

Since joining the State Senate, Sen. Rubio has authored several pieces of legislation to help cancer patients, including Senate Concurrent Resolution 11 to establish the Cancer Patients’ Bill of Rights and Senate Bill 310 to create a cancer medication recycling pilot program that provides cancer patients with safe, affordable access to lifesaving medications.

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Media Contact: Edward Barrera, edward.barrera@sen.ca.gov