BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 176|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 176
Author: Bonta (D), et al.
Amended: 9/1/15 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE EDUCATION COMMITTEE: 9-0, 6/24/15
AYES: Liu, Runner, Block, Hancock, Leyva, Mendoza, Monning,
Pan, Vidak
SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE: 8-0, 7/8/15
AYES: Hernandez, Nguyen, Hall, Monning, Nielsen, Pan, Roth,
Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Mitchell
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 8/27/15
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, Leyva, Mendoza, Nielsen
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-1, 6/2/15 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Data collection
SOURCE: Author
DIGEST: This bill specifies requirements for the collection of
demographic data, by the state's public segments of
postsecondary education and the Department of Managed Health
Care (DMHC) pertaining to collection and tabulation categories
for Native Hawaiian (NH), Asian, and Pacific Islander (API)
groups.
ANALYSIS: Existing law requires state agencies, boards, and
commissions that directly or by contract collect demographic
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Page 2
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)
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 also include the following categories,
Bangladeshi, Cambodian, Hmong Indonesian, Laotian,
Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, Thai, Fijian,
and Tongan.
d) Each entity shall comply with the Family Educational
Rights Privacy Act, and observe criteria for ensuring
statistical significance of data collected and published.
1)Requires entities to make the collected demographic data
available on their websites, except for any personally
identifying information by July 1, 2016.
2)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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3)Requires on or after July 1, 2016, the DMHC to collect and
report demographic data disaggregated into specified major
Asian, Native Hawaiian, and other Pacific Islander groups.
4)Defines "entity" to mean the CCC BOG, the CSU Trustees, and
the UC Regents.
Comments
1)Need for the bill. According to the author, aggregated data
of the 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 API 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.
The provisions in this bill require the DMHC and the governing
boards of the CCC and CSU and request the UC Regents to report
and publish demographic data in a manner that recognizes API
subgroups.
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 API students
at the 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 UC faculty also
prepared a report that highlights the need for disaggregation
of education data, among other things, for Southeast Asian,
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South Asian, Pacific Islander, and NH 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. In order to ensure
that certain Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander groups are
captured, this bill specifies additional API and NH
categories.
3)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.
Prior Legislation
AB 1737 (Eng, 2010) would have required certain state agencies
to use additional separate collection categories and tabulations
for major NH and API groups. AB 1737 was held on suspense in the
Assembly Appropriations Committee.
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 confidentiality. AB 295 was
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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."
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, CCC, or the CSU. AB 2420 was held on suspense in the
Senate Appropriations Committee.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
One-time costs of about $10,000 and ongoing cost of about
$10,000 per year for the CSU System to upgrade computer
systems and ensure proper reporting of student data (General
Fund).
No significant costs are anticipated by the DMHC, as another
provision of existing law already requires the Department to
collect data in a manner that complies with the requirements
of this bill (Managed Care Fund).
No significant costs are anticipated by the CCC System, as the
Chancellor's Office anticipates that the delayed
implementation in the bill will allow community college
districts to incorporate the required data system changes as
part of their ongoing system maintenance (General Fund).
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No significant costs are anticipated by the UC (General Fund).
SUPPORT: (Verified8/28/15)
Asian Pacific Islander Caucus
California API Budget Partnership
California Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce
California Black Health Network
California Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American
Affairs
California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office
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
Hmong National Development, Inc.
Los Angeles and Pasadena Community Colleges Districts
March of Dimes Foundation
Numerous individuals
San Jose Evergreen College
SEIU California
Southeast Asia Resource Action Center
Stone Soup Fresno
The California Black Health Network
The Campaign for College Opportunity
United Cambodian Community
University of California
OPPOSITION: (Verified8/28/15)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-1, 6/2/15
AB 176
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AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang,
Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd,
Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia,
Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray,
Hadley, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer,
Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis,
Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte,
O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon,
Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark
Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams,
Wood, Atkins
NOES: Harper
NO VOTE RECORDED: Chávez, Grove
Prepared by:Olgalilia Ramirez / ED. / (916) 651-4105
9/1/15 21:19:42
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