Senator Jean Fuller, Assemblyman Vince Fong, and Assemblyman Rudy Salas of Bakersfield submitted a request for a $3 million budget for a grant to fund Valley Fever research and outreach. 

The request was made to the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees.

If the request for the grant is approved, the grant would be funded in the 2018-19 state budget. The grant is intended to fund the Valley Fever Institute at Kern Medical Center.

In 2016, 2,310 people were infected with Valley Fever, and six were killed in Kern County.