Two bills signed by Governor Jerry Brown aim to ease the collection and confirmation of valley fever cases in California.

A.B. 1787 would establish an annual deadline for the California Department of Public Health to collect cases by, while A.B. 1788 would allow positive laboratory tests to confirm valley fever cases. 

Both of these bills were authored and introduced by Assemblymember Rudy Salas (D-Bakersfield).

According to the Kern County Public Health Department, this is the fourth year in a row valley fever cases have increased in Kern County. In 2017, there were nine Kern County deaths from valley fever.