In the News

By: The Bakersfield Californian

A controversy up the road in San Joaquin County has once again fueled criticism of a conflict-plagued system in which a California county sheriff also serves as the county coroner.

Ripples from the controversy and a proposed state law are certain to be felt in Kern County, where a sheriff-coroner system has been the focus of occasional criticism since its creation in the early 1990s.

By Taryn Luna

As Sacramento prosecutors consider dueling autopsies in the police shooting of Stephon Clark, a state senator is pushing a bill at the Capitol he says would give the public more reason to trust investigations into officer-involved shootings.

Sen. Richard Pan's Senate Bill 1303 would require coroners in the state to be licensed physicians who work independently of county sheriff's offices.

By: The San Diego Union-Tribune Editorial Board

California lawmakers deserved praise in 2015 for taking steps to push more students to have all the required vaccinations that are needed to reduce the risk of outbreaks of infectious diseases. Senate Bill 277, sponsored by state Sen. and pediatrician Richard Pan, D-Sacramento, barred parents from citing their personal beliefs in refusing to have their children vaccinated.

By Dan Morain

Lobbyist Joe Lang is the guy to see if you’re a billionaire wanting to build a basketball arena in Inglewood, or a weed start-up testing the boundaries of commercial cannabis, or a tobacco company with its many issues.

In any legislative session, his firm—Lang, Hansen, O’Malley and Miller—is one of the two or three top-billing lobby operations in Sacramento. For decades, he and his partners have been pushing, molding and killing legislation depending on their 60-plus clients’ wishes.

Lang also is Jordan’s dad.