AB 1878

AB1878:v98#DOCUMENT

Bill Start

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 1878

An act to amend and repeal Section 8310.9 of add Sections 8310.9.5 and 13073.3 to the Government Code, relating to state government.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 1878, as amended, Patel. Demographic data: collection: report. Data collection: race and ethnicity.

Existing law requires state agencies, boards, or commissions that directly or by contract collect demographic data on the ethnic origin, ethnicity, or race of Californians to use specified collection categories for Middle Eastern, North African, Asian, Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander, Black, and African American groups.Existing law establishes within the Government Operations Agency the Office of Data and Innovation, whose mission is to deliver better government services to the people of California through technology and service innovation, data, and design. Existing law requires the Governor to appoint a Chief Data Officer in the Office of Data and Innovation.This bill, subject to a specified exception, would require any state agency, board, or commission that directly or by contract collects demographic data on the ethnic origin, ethnicity, or race of Californians to collect and publish data on detailed race and ethnicity categories, as provided. The bill would require compliance with these provisions by January 1, 2029. The bill would prohibit these provisions from being construed to affect certain provisions regarding the collection of demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of California residents. The bill would also prohibit its provisions from being construed to prevent a state agency from tabulating and reporting demographic data in accordance with state or federal requirements and standards.This bill would require the Office of Data and Innovation to, among other things, standardize the collection of demographic data across state agencies, as provided. The bill would require the Chief Data Officer and the Office of Data and Innovation to oversee implementation of these provisions and provide technical assistance.This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2028, and annually thereafter, each state agency, board, or commission required to comply with the bill’s provisions to submit a report to the Legislature and the Assembly Committee on Governmental Organization on compliance with these provisions, as provided. The bill would require data collected pursuant to this section to be made available to the public in accordance with state and federal law, except for personal identifying information, as specified. The bill would prohibit an agency from disclosing personal identifying information to any federal agency unless the disclosure is expressly required by federal law. The bill would require an agency to adhere to best practices in government data and to apply data equity practices, as provided.Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Existing law requires any state agency, board, or commission that directly or by contract collects demographic data on the ethnic origin, ethnicity, or race of Californians to take certain actions, including providing forms that offer respondents the option of selecting one or more ethnic or racial designations.

This bill would require those state agencies, boards, or commissions to, by January 1, 2028, report to the Legislature on its implementation of and compliance with those requirements. The bill would repeal this reporting requirement on January 1, 2032.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1. This act shall be known, and may be cited, as “The California Reliable and Accurate Data Infrastructure Act.”

SEC. 2.

Section 8310.9.5 is added to the Government Code, to read:

8310.9.5. (a) (1) Subject to subdivision (b), any state agency, board, or commission that directly or by contract collects demographic data on the ethnic origin, ethnicity, or race of Californians shall collect and publish data on detailed race and ethnicity categories in accordance with other provisions of law, including Sections 8310.4, 8310.5, 8310.6, and 8310.9, guidance offered by the Office of Data and Innovation, and the federal Office of Management and Budget’s Revised Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (SPD 15) published on March 29, 2024.(2) An agency described in paragraph (1) shall provide both of the following options for respondents when conducting demographic data collection:(A) A write-in option for respondents who do not identify with any listed detailed category.(B) A write-in option within each category to allow for additional self-identification, when feasible.(3) An agency described in paragraph (1) shall do both of the following: (A) Use separate race and ethnicity collection categories when conducting demographic data collection as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians, in compliance with applicable state law.(B) Utilize additional race and ethnicity collection categories as necessary to allow for the tabulation of race and ethnicity categories, as defined by SPD 15, to ensure compliance with applicable federal laws and standards.(4) A state agency that lacks formally defined data governance practices may consult with the State Department of Public Health for guidance in developing community-informed data governance practices.(b) The Office of Data and Innovation may exempt a data collection from the requirements of subdivision (a) only if the relevant agency responsible for the data collection makes a written determination, supported by substantial evidence, that the administrative burden on the agency for collecting and publishing information on a particular category outweighs the anticipated benefit to the affected population group.(c) The requirements of subdivision (a) apply to administrative and survey data collections, including third-party and commercial data collections, for the purpose of contracts, partnerships, and agreements involving state agencies.(d) Each state agency, board, or commission required to comply with subdivision (a) shall comply with the requirements of this section as early as reasonably feasible, but no later than January 1, 2029.(e) The Chief Data Officer and the Office of Data and Innovation shall oversee implementation of this section, including tracking progress, conducting evaluations, ensuring compliance, and providing technical assistance.(f) (1) On or before January 1, 2028, and annually thereafter, each state agency, board, or commission required to comply with subdivision (a) shall submit a report to the Legislature and the Assembly Committee on Governmental Organization on compliance with the requirements of this section, including all of the following:(A) The collection, analysis, and publication of data.(B) Existing and new data collection forms and instruments used by state agencies to collect demographic data.(C) Technical assistance efforts.(2) A report to be submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795.(g) (1) Data collected pursuant to this section shall be made available to the public in accordance with state and federal law, except for personal identifying information, which shall be deemed confidential.(2) A state agency shall not disclose personally identifying information collected from individuals to any federal agency unless the disclosure is expressly required by federal law.(3) A state agency shall adhere to best practices in government data, including practices in the Office of Data and Innovation California Data Standard, the Office of Data and Innovation Data Minimization and Privacy Toolkit, and California Health and Human Services Agency Data De-identification Guidelines. These practices shall be applied before the transfer of data to other state and federal agencies to the extent allowable under applicable law.(4) A state agency shall, to the fullest extent possible, apply data equity practices in data privacy methods to ensure diverse representation in the data, including by working with impacted community groups to understand privacy loss, statistical utility preferences, and potential technical solutions.(h) This section shall not be construed to affect the provisions of Section 8310.7 of this code or Section 131250 of the Health and Safety Code.(i) This act shall not be construed to prevent a state agency from tabulating and reporting demographic data in accordance with state or federal requirements and standards.

SEC. 3.

Section 13073.3 is added to the Government Code, to read:

13073.3. (a) The Office of Data and Innovation shall do all of the following:(1) Organize quarterly consultative meetings with experts on race and ethnicity data collections working in governmental agencies, academic institutions, nonprofit organizations, and other community-serving organizations.(2) Standardize the collection of demographic data across state agencies, including all state administrative and survey data, in accordance with paragraph (3) of subdivision (a) of Section 8310.9.5.(3) Coordinate the activities of statistical data collection across state agencies, including by convening an interagency working group to support coordination and implementation.(4) Ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of the state’s statistical data collection.(5) Ensure the confidentiality and protection of state data collections.(6) Perform any other tasks necessary to ensure the integrity, objectivity, impartiality, and utility of information collected for statistical purposes.(b) The Chief Data Officer within the Office of Data and Innovation may provide state agencies with statistical analyses that supplement the decennial United States Census, population estimates in the American Community Survey, and other federal administrative data and survey data collections.(c) The Chief Data Officer within the Office of Data and Innovation shall ensure that all state agencies adopt the same standard for the collection of race and ethnicity, including minimum categories and detailed categories for race and ethnicity.

SEC. 4. The Legislature finds and declares that Section 2 of this act, which adds Section 8310.9.5 to the Government Code, imposes a limitation on the public’s right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies within the meaning of Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution. Pursuant to that constitutional provision, the Legislature makes the following findings to demonstrate the interest protected by this limitation and the need for protecting that interest:In order to protect the privacy of California residents, while also gathering and publicizing useful demographic data, it is necessary that personal identifying information remain confidential.

SECTION 1.Section 8310.9 of the Government Code is amended to read:

8310.9.

(a)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 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 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)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.

(b)Any state agency, board, or commission that directly or by contract collects demographic data on the 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. Recommended forms for the instruction accompanying a multiple response question are “mark one or more” or “select one or more.”

(2)Ensure in cases when data on respondents’ 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).

(c)Each state agency, board, or commission required to comply with subdivision (b) shall comply as early as reasonably feasible when updating forms, software, hardware, or information collection procedures, and in no event later than January 1, 2022.

(d)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.

(e)Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, any state agency, board, or commission that collects ethnic or 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.

(f)(1)By January 1, 2028, each state agency, board, or commission subject to this section shall report to the Legislature, in compliance with Section 9795, on its implementation of and compliance with the requirements of subdivision (b).

(2)Pursuant to Section 10231.5, this subdivision is repealed on January 1, 2032.