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









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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.  








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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. 








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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:








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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  








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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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