BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Senator Carol Liu, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 176
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|Author: | Bonta |
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|Version: | May 28, 2015 Hearing |
| |Date: June 24, 2015 |
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|Urgency: | No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:| Olgalilia |
| |Ramirez |
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Note: This bill has been referred to the Committees on Education
and Health. A "do pass" motion should include referral to the
Committee on Health.
Subject: Data collection
SUMMARY
This bill specifies requirements for the collection of
demographic data, by the state's public segments of
postsecondary education and state health-related departments
pertaining to collection and tabulation categories for Native
Hawaiian (NH), Asian, and Pacific Islander (API) groups.
BACKGROUND
Existing law requires state agencies, boards, and commissions
that directly or by contract collect demographic data as to the
ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians to use separate
collection categories and tabulations for each major API group,
including, but not limited to, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino,
Korean, Vietnamese, Asian Indian, Laotian, Cambodian, Hawaiian,
Guamanian, and Samoan.
(Government Code § 8310.5)
ANALYSIS
AB 176 (Bonta) Page 2
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This bill:
1)Requires the Board of Governors (BOG) of the California Community
Colleges (CCC) and the Trustees of the California State
University (CSU), and requests the Regents of the University
of California (UC), when collecting demographic data on
students for a report that includes student admission,
enrollment, completion, or graduation rates, to use specified
collection and tabulation categories for NH and API groups as
follows:
a) Until the release of the next decennial census,
each entity shall use the categories that they used as of
January 1, 2015.
b) Within 18 months after release of the decennial
census, each entity shall use NH and API categories as
reported by the United States Census Bureau.
c) Each entity shall comply with the Family
Educational Rights Privacy Act, and observe criteria for
ensuring statistical significance of data collected and
published.
2)Requires the California Community Colleges (CCC), the California
State University (CSU) and the University of California (UC),
by July 1, 2016, to collect and publish specified demographic
data on their respective websites and update the data
annually.
3)Specifies that provisions in this bill shall not be interpreted
as preventing any other state agency from posting the data
collected, as specified, on its website in a manner pursuant
to this section or Section 8310.5 or 8310.7 of the Government
Code.
4)Specifies that the provisions in this bill regarding
categorization requirements do not apply to graduate or
professional schools at UC and clarifies that this measure
applies to the UC only if the UC Regents, make it applicable
by resolution.
AB 176 (Bonta) Page 3
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5)Defines "entity" to mean the CCC Board of Governors (BOG), the
CSU Trustees, and the UC Regents.
6)Requires on or after July 1, 2016, the Department of Health Care
Services (DHCS) and the Department of Manages Health Care
(DMHC), when collecting patient demographic data for reports
on the type and amount of health care coverage, rates for
major diseases, leading causes of death, as specified,
pregnancy rates, and housing numbers, to use the following
separate collecting categories and tabulations, in addition to
the existing categories required by current law:
a) Major Asian groups, including, but not limited
to, Bangladeshi, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani,
Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, and Thai; and
b) Major Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander
groups, including but not limited to Fijian and Tongan.
STAFF COMMENTS
1)Need for the bill. According to the author, aggregated data of
the Asian, and Pacific Islander (API) population in California
fail to demonstrate unique challenges of API subgroups
particular with respect to educational outcomes and health
care. Current law requires the Department of Industrial
Relations and Fair Employment and Housing to collect
disaggregated data for major Asian and Pacific Islander
groups. The author asserts that extending these data
collection requirements to other state agencies and public
postsecondary institutions will help to expose social and
economic disparities within the greater API population in
California.
This bill requires the State Department of Healthcare Service,
The Department of Managed Healthcare and the governing boards
of the CCC and CSU and requests the UC Regents to report and
publish demographic data in a manner that recognizes API
subgroups.
AB 176 (Bonta) Page 4
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2)Need for data disaggregation? Academic and government research
demonstrate how statistical data of the API population, when
aggregated can inadvertently skew results that can conceal the
actual conditions and experiences of subgroup populations
particularly the Southeast Asian community. To note, 2010 U.S.
Census data shows low educational attainment levels for
Southeast Asians with only 15.4% of Hmong, 15% of Cambodian
and 10.4% of Laotian Americans with a Bachelor's degree or
Higher compared to 50.2% of Asians as a whole. Similarly, a
2013 report of Asian, and Pacific Islander (API) students at
the California State University (CSU), Fresno, "The Academic
Challenges of Southeast Asians at Fresno State," found
significant educational disparities of the API group and
Southeast Asian community. A closer look at the respective API
ethnic groups showed that 97% of Hmong students were first
generation college students who came from larger households
and 62% came from low income household (less than 24,000 a
year). The University of California (UC) faculty also prepared
a report that highlights the need for disaggregation of
education data, among other things, for Southeast Asian, South
Asian, Pacific Islander, and Native Hawaiian in the state.
These particular groups experience high rates of poverty,
limited English proficiency, and cultural barriers that have
resulted in low educational outcomes.
This bill seeks to identify the characteristics and
disparities within the API community by requiring the
California Community Colleges (CCC), CSU and requesting the UC
to report admissions, enrollment, completion and graduation
data for API students according to categories used by the
United States Census Bureau in the next decennial census in
2020. The 2010 and the most recent decennial census includes
Asian, Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean,
Vietnamese, other Asian, Native Hawaiian, Guamanian or
Chamorro, Samoan, other Pacific Islander. Notably missing from
the list are the Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander groups
this bill is attempting to capture; for this reason staff
recommends the bill be amended on page 3 between lines 15 and
16 insert:
(2) In addition, each entity shall report on the following
categories:
AB 176 (Bonta) Page 5
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a) Additional Major Asian groups, including, but
not limited to Bangladeshi, Cambodian, Hmong,
Indonesian, Laotian. Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan,
Taiwanese, and Thai.
b) Additional Major Native Hawaiian and other
Pacific Islander groups including but not limited to,
Fijian and Tongan.
As amended, the bill could potentially create a new state
mandate for CCC.
1)Data Collection at CSU, UC and CCC. In 2009, the CSU application
was modified to provide applicants with over 50 different API
categories from which to self-identify. Similarly, UC's
existing data collection practices go beyond what's required
by provisions in this bill. Lastly, the CCC collects
information on 11 different API communities on its application
"CCC Apply". It is unclear how the data is reported or if it
is published for public access. This bill requires CCC, CSU
and requests the UC to collect and publish existing
demographic data on their respective websites and update the
data annually by July 1, 2016. Data published after the
specified U.S. Census deadline must reflect the categories
outlined in this bill.
2)Related and prior legislation.
PRIOR LEGISLATION
a) AB 1737 (Eng, 2010) would have required certain state
agencies to use additional separate collection categories
and tabulations for major Native Hawaiian and Asian, and
Pacific Islander (API) groups. AB 1737 was held on suspense
in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
b) AB 295 (Lieu, 2007) would have required various state
entities to report collected demographic data according to
each major API group and make the data available to the
public to the extent that disclosure did not violate
AB 176 (Bonta) Page 6
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confidentiality. AB 295 was vetoed by Governor
Schwarzenegger whose message read:
"I believe this bill is unnecessary and imposes
additional costs on state agencies at a time the state
cannot afford them.
Even as we work to move beyond divisions based on
race, I recognize there are times when it is
appropriate for government to sort data based on
ethnicity. That is why existing law gives state
agencies the flexibility to expand upon current
demographic categories if necessary. Given this
flexibility, this bill is unnecessary. I encourage the
proponents of this measure to work with individual
agencies if they believe a circumstance exists where
expanding the number of ethnic categories for the
purposes of data collection is warranted."
c) AB 2420 (Lieu, 2006) similar to this bill, would have
expanded from 11 to 23 the ancestry or ethnic origin
collection categories required to be collected by any state
agency, board, commission, California Community Colleges,
or the California State University. AB 2420 was held on
suspense in Senate Appropriations.
SUPPORT
Asian Pacific Islander Caucus
California API Budget Partnership
California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce (CalAsian)
California Black Health Network
California Faculty Association
California Immigrant Policy Center
California Pan Ethnic Health Network
California State University
California Young Democrats Asian Pacific Islander Caucus
Community College League of California
Families in Good Health
Fresno Center for New Americans
Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries, Inc.
Healthy House Within a MATCH Coalition
Los Angeles and Pasadena Community Colleges Districts
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March of Dimes Foundation
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center
The California Black Health Network
The Campaign for College Opportunity
United Cambodian Community
University of California
OPPOSITION
None received.
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