Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

PUBLIC BODY; RACE & ETHNICITY DATA                                    S.B. 958 (S-2) - 961:
                                                                         SUMMARY OF BILL
                                                                REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE
Senate Bill 958 (Substitute S-2 as reported)
Senate Bills 959 through 961 (as reported without amendment)
Sponsor: Senator Darrin Camilleri
Committee: Oversight
CONTENT
Senate Bill 958 (S-2) would enact the "Race and Ethnicity Data Collection Act" to do the
following:
-- Require a public body that requested an individual to designate the individual's race or
   ethnicity and included racial or ethnic categories to include certain minimum categories
   and subcategories of races and ethnicities.
-- Prescribe the minimum racial and ethnic categories and subcategories that would have to
   be included in a question.
-- Specify that these provisions would not apply until three years after the Act's effective
   date.
-- Require each public body requesting such data to develop and post on its website, or if it
   did not have a website, in a prominent and conspicuous place at its main location, an
   action plan on race and ethnicity within 18 months after the Act's effective date.
-- Beginning January 1, 2032, require a public body to update the list of minimum
   subcategories based on population related to the Federal Decennial Census, within four
   years of the Census.
Senate Bill 959 would repeal Section 206a of the Management and Budget Act, which requires
a State agency requesting an individual to identify race or ethnicity on a form to include
multiracial on that form or comply with certain Federal reporting requirements.
Senate Bill 960 would amend the Eliot-Larson Civil Rights Act to specify that the Act's
requirements concerning how a designation of race or ethnicity could be requested would not
apply to a public body or State public university.
Senate Bill 961 would amend Public Act 273 of 1917, which provides for the licensure and
regulation of pawnbrokers, to modify the race and ethnicity data that a pawnbroker collected
in a record of transaction to align with the data proposed to be collected under Senate Bill
958 (S-2).
Senate Bill 959, Senate Bill 960, and Senate Bill 961 are tie-barred to Senate Bill 958.
MCL 18.12036a (repealed) (S.B. 959)
    37.2202a & 37.2402a (S.B. 960)
    444.205 (S.B. 961)
BRIEF RATIONALE
In March 2024, the Federal Office of Management and Budget made recommendations on
standards for questions used to collect information on race and ethnicity, including using a
combined question, adding Middle Eastern or North African as a new minimum category, and
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collecting detail beyond the minimum categories.1 According to testimony before the Senate
Committee on Oversight, many communities, especially those of color, do not receive
resources obtained through Federal and State funding by use of population representation,
such as funding to translate medical directives needed during the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Accordingly, it has been suggested to align the State's standards for the collection of race and
ethnicity data with Federal standards.
                                                                                       Legislative Analyst: Eleni Lionas
FISCAL IMPACT
The bills would have a negative but likely minimal fiscal impact on State government and on
local units of government. The required specifications likely would result in increased costs,
specifically related to printing and information technology. Public bodies would have to update
or revise forms to meet the specifications and include the designated categories outlined in
Senate Bill 958 (S-2). It is likely that the revisions and associated re-printing, software
updates, or other actions would create additional costs for the affected units, agencies, and
departments.
It is probable that most of these costs would be absorbed by existing appropriations; however,
some organizations could incur more substantive costs related to information technology
updates if current systems were not sufficiently compatible with the requirements or
significantly affected the body’s data collection systems. These potential costs cannot be
easily quantified and would depend on a public body’s specific circumstances.
Date Completed: 12-17-24                                                                    Fiscal Analyst: Bobby Canell
                                                                                                         Joe Carrasco, Jr.
                                                                                                    Elizabeth Raczkowski
1 "OMB Publishes Revisions to Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting,
and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity." https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/briefing-
room/2024/03/28/omb-publishes-revisions-to-statistical-policy-directive-no-15-standards-for-
maintaining-collecting-and-presenting-federal-data-on-race-and-ethnicity/. Retrieved 12-16-24.
SAS\Floors2324\sb958
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official
statement of legislative intent.
Page 2 of 2                       Bill Analysis @ www.senate.michigan.gov/sfa                                    sb958-961/2324
Statutes affected: 
Senate Introduced Bill: 18.1206
As Passed by the Senate: 18.1206