Richard Juien-Dah Pan (born October 28, 1965) is an American Democratic politician and physician who served in the California State Senate from 2014 to 2022, representing the 6th Senate district, which encompasses parts of

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

and Yolo counties. He is also a practicing pediatrician. Pan was Chair of the California Asian American & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus. Prior to being elected to the State Senate in 2014, he was a member of the California State Assembly representing the 5th Assembly District, and after the 2010 redistricting, the 9th Assembly District.

Early life and education

Pan was born in

Yonkers, New York Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as en ...

and raised in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

to immigrant parents from

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

Legislative career

Following a measles outbreak that began in California and infected 131 people, Pan and Senator Ben Allen introduced

California Senate Bill 277 California Senate Bill 277 (SB277) is a California law that removed personal belief as a reason for an exemption from the vaccination requirements for entry to private or public elementary or secondary schools in California, as well as day care c ...

in 2015, which eliminated philosophical and religious beliefs exemptions to vaccine requirements for California school children. The bill passed and was signed into law by

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of ...

. Pan authored laws to expand

newborn screening Newborn screening (NBS) is a public health program of screening in infants shortly after birth for conditions that are treatable, but not clinically evident in the newborn period. The goal is to identify infants at risk for these conditions e ...

for severe combined immunodeficiency syndrome (AB395 in 2011),

adrenoleukodystrophy Adrenoleukodystrophy (ALD) is a disease linked to the X chromosome. It is a result of fatty acid buildup caused by peroxisomal fatty acid beta oxidation which results in the accumulation of very long chain fatty acids in tissues throughout the b ...

(AB1559 in 2014) and all conditions recommended by the federal DHHS Recommended Universal Screening Panel (SB1095 in 2016). Pan authored legislation to extend the California Children's Services Program managed care carve-out (AB301 in 2011) and to establish the

Medi-Cal The California Medical Assistance Program (Medi-Cal or MediCal) is California's Medicaid program serving low-income individuals, including families, seniors, persons with disabilities, children in foster care, pregnant women, and childless adults w ...

Children's Health Advisory Board to guide Medi-Cal policy affecting children (AB357 in 2014). In 2021 he authored a law (SB 742) that makes illegal to "harass, intimidate, injure or obstruct" people who are on their way to get a vaccination; the law was inspired by an incident in January when protesters targeted and briefly shut down a mass vaccination site in Los Angeles.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pan, Richard 1965 births Living people American pediatricians American politicians of Taiwanese descent California politicians of Chinese descent Educators from California Harvard School of Public Health alumni Johns Hopkins University alumni Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly Politicians from Sacramento, California University of California, Davis faculty University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine alumni 21st-century American politicians People from Yonkers, New York Politicians from Pittsburgh