BILL NUMBER: AB 1737	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Eng

                        FEBRUARY 4, 2010

   An act to amend Section 8310.5 of, and to add Section 8310.7 to,
the Government Code, relating to state agencies.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1737, as introduced, Eng. State agencies: collection of
demographic data.
   Existing law requires any 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 and Pacific Islander
group, including, but not limited to, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino,
Korean, Vietnamese, Asian Indian, Hawaiian, Guamanian, Samoan,
Laotian, and Cambodian.
   This bill would require specified state agencies to use additional
separate collection categories and tabulations for other major Asian
groups and Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islander groups,
including Bangladeshi, Fijian, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian,
Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, Thai, and Tongan. This bill would
also require that these specified state agencies update their data
collection categories to match those used by the United States Census
Bureau. This bill would further require a state agency, board, or
commission that directly or by contract collects demographic data,
include data on specified collection categories and tabulations in
any demographic report on ancestry or ethnic origins of Californians
that it publishes or releases on or after July 1, 2011. This bill
would further require a state agency, board, or commission to make
the collected data available to the public, in accordance with state
and federal law, except for personal identifying information, which
shall be deemed confidential.
   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.  The Legislature hereby finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) More than one-third of the nation's Asians and Pacific
Islanders live in California, making the state home to more Asians
and Pacific Islanders than any other state in the nation.
   (b) Asians and Pacific Islanders represent 14 percent of the state'
s population, and grew by 52 percent from 1990 to 2000.
   (c) Asians and Pacific Islanders are an incredibly diverse group.
Due to this diversity, the federal Office of Management and Budget's
Statistical Policy Directive No. 15, entitled Race and Ethnic
Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting,
separated the "Asian and Pacific Islander" category into two distinct
and separate categories, now called "Asians" and "Native Hawaiians
or Other Pacific Islanders," and these two distinct categories were
used in the 2000 United States Census. The United States Census
Bureau currently reports data for more than 20 different ethnicities
within these two categories.
   (d) While Asians and Pacific Islanders are often misrepresented as
a homogeneous group, they actually represent dozens of different
cultures, languages, and ethnic groups and have a wide range of
economic, educational, and social needs.
   (e) Existing state law requires state demographic data to be
divided into some Asian and some Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander
ethnic groups. However, additional groups reported by the United
States Census Bureau are not included in state demographic data.
   (f) Given the diversity of languages and cultures, separating data
for additional Asian and additional Native Hawaiian and Pacific
Islander ethnic groups is critical for enhancing our state's
understanding of the needs and experiences of these different
communities.
  SEC. 2.  Section 8310.5 of the Government Code is amended to read:
   8310.5.   (a)    Any state agency, board, or
commission  which   that  directly or by
contract collects demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic
origin of Californians shall use separate collection categories and
tabulations for each major Asian  and Pacific Islander
 group, including, but not limited to, Chinese, Japanese,
Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Asian Indian,  Hawaiian,
Guamanian, Samoan,  Laotian, and  Cambodian.
  Cambodian, and each major Native Hawaiian and Pacific
Islander group, including, but not limited to, Native Hawaiian,
Guamanian (also known as Chamorro), and Samoan.  
   (b) The data collected pursuant to the different collection
categories and tabulations described in subdivision (a) shall be
included in any demographic report on ancestry or ethnic origins of
Californians by a state agency, board, or commission published or
released on or after July 1, 2011. The data shall be made available
to the public in accordance with state and federal law, except for
personal identifying information, which shall be deemed confidential.

  SEC. 3.  Section 8310.7 is added to the Government Code, to read:
   8310.7.  (a) In addition to the duties imposed under Section
8310.5, the following state agencies, in the course of collecting
demographic data directly or by contract as to the ancestry or ethnic
origin of Californians, shall collect and tabulate data for
additional major Asian groups, including, but not limited to,
Bangladeshi, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan,
Taiwanese, and Thai, and additional major Native Hawaiian and Pacific
Islander groups, including, but not limited to, Fijian and Tongan:
   (1) The State Department of Health Care Services.
   (2) The State Department of Public Health.
   (3) The State Department of Social Services.
   (4) The Employment Development Department.
   (5) The Department of Industrial Relations.
   (6) The State Personnel Board.
   (7) The Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
   (b) During the normal process of reporting demographic data, the
state agencies shall report the collected data according to each
Asian group and each Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander group
specified in subdivision (a) and make that data available to the
public in accordance with state and federal law, except for personal
identifying information, which shall be deemed confidential.
   (c) The state agencies set forth in subdivision (a) shall comply
as early as possible, but no later than July 1, 2011.
   (d) Notwithstanding subdivision (c), the state agencies pursuant
to subdivision (a) shall, within 18 months after the United States
Census is released to the public, update their data collection to
reflect the additional Asian groups and additional Native Hawaiian
and Pacific Islander groups as they are reported by the United States
Census Bureau.