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After delivering a passionate speech in front the Tax Reform Committee at the state capitol a couple of months ago, Pleasanton seventh grader Raayan Kolte and his local nonprofit chapter focused on addressing pediatric brain cancer can now celebrate after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill Monday that the nonprofit has championed over the past year.
The piece of legislation, Assembly Bill 703, will now give California taxpayers the option to voluntarily donate a portion of their state tax return to support childhood cancer research starting January 2026. The bill is particularly important to Kolte after losing his younger brother, Neev, to a rare form of brain cancer known as diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma, otherwise known as DIPG several years ago.
“DIPG has been known since the 1960s, and the standard of care still hasn’t changed,” Kolte said during the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation hearing on April 7. “Neil Armstrong’s daughter got diagnosed with DIPG, and he said, ‘How can they send me to the moon but cannot cure my daughter?’ … How many more decades must go by before we have a cure for this deadly disease?”
The bill was introduced by Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-San Jose) and co-sponsored by the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) and the Neev Kolte & Brave Ronil Foundation, according to a press release from the assemblymember’s office Tuesday.
The Pleasanton-based nonprofit was founded in 2022 and named in memory of 6-year-old Neev and 14-year-old Ronil Mehta, who lived in Fremont. The foundation focuses on supporting pediatric brain cancer research through fundraising events for medical research projects.
“I lost my brother Ronil to Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), a rare and aggressive brain cancer with a near-zero survival rate,” Sahil Mehta, ACS CAN legislative ambassador and Irvington High School student, said in Tuesday’s press release. “Before he passed away, he donated his tumor for cancer research to find ways to treat DIPG. Ronil never lost hope, and neither can we.”
According to the press release, Mehta reached out to the assemblymember to introduce the new bill after having learned about two existing voluntary contribution funds that have raised nearly $6 million over the last six years for cancer research in California.
“This legislation gives Californians a direct way to help keep hope alive for a future where more kids can grow up and thrive despite a cancer diagnosis,” Mehta said.
Both Kolte and Mehta —along with their families — have dedicated the last couple of years to advocate and raise awareness about childhood cancer and to fundraise money to support research projects.
Kolte specifically founded the “Siblings and Friends” chapter of the nonprofit in order to push for the recent bill to be passed. According to the Tuesday press release, Kolte and Mehta both played a key role in ensuring the bill reached the governors desk after rallying support from state lawmakers and testifying in legislative hearings such as the one in April.
“With the unprecedented proposed cuts to research funding at the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute, it’s more urgent than ever that we, as Californians, are able to step up to ensure critical cancer research doesn’t slow down or stop,” Jen Grand-Lejano, ACS CAN Pacific region managing director, said in the press release. “This new law will make it easier for the public to help fund promising childhood cancer research, bringing hope to families facing a heartbreaking diagnosis.”
