BILL NUMBER: AB 532	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member McCarty

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2015

   An act to add Section 8310.6 to the Government Code, relating to
state agencies.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 532, as introduced, McCarty. State agencies: collection of
data: ancestry or ethnic origin.
   Existing law requires state agencies, boards, or commissions that
directly or by contract collect demographic data as to the ancestry
or ethnic origin of Californians, and state agencies conducting
surveys as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of state civil service
employees, to use separate collection categories for each major Asian
and Pacific Islander group.
   This bill would enact the Ethnic Heritage Respect and Recognition
Act to require any state agency, board, or commission that directly
or by contract collects demographic data, as soon as reasonably
feasible and in no event later than January 1, ____, to provide forms
that offer respondents the option of selecting one more ethnic or
racial designation according to specified federal standards.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 8310.6 is added to the Government Code, to
read:
   8310.6.  (a) This section shall be known and may be cited as the
Ethnic Heritage Respect and Recognition Act.
   (b) The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) The State of California currently has the largest population
of people in the United States who identify with more than one
ancestry, ethnicity, or race. This population of Californians who
identify as multiracial is rapidly growing.
   (2) Many state forms that currently require respondents to choose
only a single ancestry, ethnicity, or race force multiracial
Californians to deny a significant part of their heritage.
Information collected in this manner often deprives the state of
accurate data with which to meet the needs of its diverse
communities.
   (3) It is in the best interest of the State of California to
respect, embrace, and understand the full diversity of its citizens.
   (4) Respect for individual dignity should guide the processes and
methods for collecting and encoding data on ancestry, ethnicity, and
race.
   (5) Since 1997, the federal Office of Management and Budget's
"Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data
on Race and Ethnicity" have required federal agencies to ensure that
individuals have the option of selecting one or more ethnic or racial
designations on federal government forms requesting this
information.
   (c) Any state agency, board, or commission that directly or by
contract collects demographic data on the ancestry, ethnic origin,
ethnicity, or race of Californians shall do all of the following:
   (1) Provide forms that offer respondents the option of selecting
one or more ethnic or racial designations pursuant to the federal
Office of Management and Budget's "Standards for Maintaining,
Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity."
Recommended forms for the instruction accompanying a multiple
response question are "mark one or more" and "select one or more." A
single designation for multiracial respondents does not satisfy this
requirement.
   (2) Ensure in cases when data on respondents' ancestry, ethnic
origin, ethnicity, or race is reported to any other state agency,
board, or commission that it is neither tabulated nor reported
without all of the following:
   (A) The number or percentage of respondents who identify with each
ethnic or racial designation alone and not in combination with any
other ethnic or racial designation.
   (B) The number or percentage of respondents who identify with each
ethnic or racial designation, whether alone or in combination with
other ethnic or racial designations.
   (C) The number or percentage of respondents who identify with
multiple ethnic or racial designations.
   (D) For civil rights monitoring and enforcement, complying with
the rules for multiple race response allocation issued by the federal
Office of Management and Budget Bulletin No. 00-02 in cases of state
or federally mandated actions related to an ethnic or a racial
community, or to assessing disparate impact or discriminatory
patterns. In these cases, the requirement of subparagraph (C) shall
not be considered satisfied without also complying with the
requirements of subparagraphs (A), (B), and (D).
   (d) Each state agency, board, or commission required to comply
with subdivision (c) shall comply as early as reasonably feasible
when updating forms, software, hardware, or information collection
procedures, and in no event later than January 1, ____.
   (e) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, any state
agency, board, or commission that collects demographic data from a
local agency may continue to collect and report that data to any
other state agency, board, or commission in the form that the local
agency submits it.