BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 532 Page 1 Date of Hearing: May 13, 2015 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Jimmy Gomez, Chair AB 532 (McCarty) - As Amended April 20, 2015 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Accountability and |Vote:|9 - 0 | |Committee: |Administrative Review | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill requires any state agency, board, or commission that collects demographic data to provide forms that offer the option of "multiracial" identification, and selecting one or more ethnic or racial designations. Specifically, this bill: AB 532 Page 2 1)Requires state agencies, boards, or commissions when reporting respondents data to any other state agency, board, or commission to tabulate and report all of the following: a) The number or percentage of respondents who identify with each ethnic or racial designation alone. b) The number or percentage of respondents who identify with each ethnic or racial designation in combination with other ethnic or racial designations. c) The number or percentage of respondents who identify with multiple ethnic or racial designations. d) Federally mandated actions related to civil rights monitoring and enforcement. 2)Requires state agencies, boards, or commissions to comply as soon as reasonably feasible, but no later than January 1, 2022. 3)Allows any state agency, board, or commission that collects demographic data from a local agency to continue to collect and report that data in the form the local agency submits. FISCAL EFFECT: Minor costs to state agencies, boards and commissions that collect demographic data to update forms and information AB 532 Page 3 collection procedures over a six-year period ending January 1, 2022. COMMENTS: Background and Purpose. Data collection by state agencies, boards, or commissions that collect demographic data is not uniform across entities. Existing law sets minimum requirements but does not limit the amount of information an entity may collect. Current collection forms seek to provide multiple racial designations from which an individual may select more than one designation to express their racial identity. Difficulty arises, however, when an individual finds that their racial identity cannot be accurately expressed through the limited number of racial designations listed on the forms. Race organizations have identified the need for individuals who consider themselves multiracial to have the option of self-identifying as simply "multiracial" as opposed to attempting to express their racial identity through an ever expanding list of racial designations. By adding a racial designation of "multiracial" in combination with allowing more than one ethnic or racial designation, this bill allows individuals to choose the method that best suits them. Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 AB 532 Page 4