(1) Existing law requires state agencies, boards, and commissions, in the course of collecting demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians, to use separate collection categories and tabulations for certain groups, as specified. Existing federal law imposes various requirements on the collection of demographic data, as provided.
Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health, which is responsible for various programs relating to the health and safety of people in the state. Existing law requires the State Department of Public Health to collect and report specified information, including data on violent deaths.
This bill would require the department, on or after January 1, 2028, in the course of collecting demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of California residents for any report that includes rates for major diseases and leading causes of death, as specified, to use separate collection categories and tabulations for Hispanic or Latino groups using standardized federal race and ethnicity categories from the federal Office of Management and Budget's "Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity," as specified. The bill would require the department to use separate collection categories and tabulations for each major Latino group and Mesoamerican Indigenous nation, if that group or nation is not included in the standardized federal race and ethnicity categories, as specified. The bill would require the department, when collecting the preferred language of program participants, to include specified languages.
Existing law requires state agencies, boards, and commissions to report, as specified, data on collection categories and tabulations for certain groups. Existing law requires the collected data to be made available to the public, except as specified, including, among other things, personal identifying information, which existing law deems confidential. Existing law requires state agencies to update their data collection to reflect additional certain groups as they are reported by the United States Census Bureau, as specified.
This bill would require the department to include the collected data in every demographic report on ancestry, ethnic origins, or language of California residents that the department publishes or releases on or after July 1, 2029. The bill would require the department to make available to the public the collected data, except as specified, including, among other things, personal identifying information, which the bill would deem confidential. On or before July 1, 2029, and annually thereafter, the bill would require the department to report to the Legislature on the collected data and the methods used to collect that data. The bill would require the department to update its data collection to reflect additional Latino groups, Mesoamerican Indigenous nations, and Mesoamerican Indigenous language groups as they are reported by the United States Census Bureau, as specified.
This bill would authorize the State Department of Public Health to continue to collect and report demographic data in the form that the data was submitted if the data was collected pursuant to federal programs or surveys, by other state entities, or by third-party entities, as specified.
(2) 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.