BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 532
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CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB
532 (McCarty)
As Amended September 3, 2015
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |76-0 |(May 26, 2015) |SENATE: | 40-0 |(September 8, |
| | | | | |2015) |
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Original Committee Reference: A. & A.R.
SUMMARY: Requires state entities that collect demographic
information on ethnicity and race to provide forms that offer
respondents the option of selecting one or more ethnic or racial
designations, by January 1, 2022.
The Senate amendments:
1)Delete the requirement for state entities to offer respondents
the option of identifying in a separate multiracial category.
2)Clarify that any state agency, board, or commission that
collects ethnic and racial data solely to comply with federal
requirements may continue to collect and report that data to
any other state agency, board, or commission in the form
required by the federal government.
AB 532
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EXISTING LAW requires a state agency, board, or commission that
directly, or by contract, collects demographic data as to the
ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians, to use separate
collection categories and tabulations for each major Asian group
and each major Pacific Islander group. This data is required to
be made available to the public in accordance with state and
federal law, except for confidential personal identifying
information. (Government Code Section 8310.5)
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, unknown, but significant overall costs to comply with
this bill's mandates. Many state entities report minor and
absorbable costs to comply by 2022, and many others are
unaffected by this bill because they don't collect demographic
data. The following entities that provided information would
have significant costs:
1)The Department of Human Resources and the State Personnel
Board estimates costs in the range of $250,000 (General Fund),
primarily associated with programming duties to update
systems.
2)The Administrative Office of the Courts indicates that several
of the mandated duties of the courts require the collection of
demographic data. Some of these procedures either currently
allow for multiple racial or ethnic designations, or could be
updated in the normal course of business by 2022. Courts also
collect race data on criminal defendants through case
management systems, most of which offer the option to identify
as "multiracial" or "other," but not to select more than one
designation. Costs to update 58 separate case management
systems are unknown, but likely significant. (Trial Court
Trust Fund)
3)Unknown costs to the Employment Development Department (EDD),
potentially in the range of $1 million (General Fund). EDD
AB 532
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indicated costs related to the May 20th version of this bill
would be approximately $6.5 million, largely attributable to
costs to add a new "multiractial" designation to multiple
Information Technology systems and programs. Amendments
remove the option for respondents to identify as multiracial,
so staff assumes the initial identified costs will be
substantially decreased. Updated fiscal estimates from EDD
are currently unavailable.
COMMENTS: Existing law sets minimum requirements but does not
limit the amount of demographic data state entities 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.
The author's office emphasizes that "by allowing multiracial
Californians the choice of selecting one or more ethnic/racial
designations, AB 532 will give policymakers, service providers,
health practitioners and others a truer picture of the state's
diversity."
Analysis Prepared by:
William Herms / A. & A.R. / (916) 319-3600 FN:
0002217