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AB-91 State and local agencies: demographic data.(2025-2026)

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Date Published: 01/06/2025 09:00 PM
AB91:v99#DOCUMENT


CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 91

Introduced by Assembly Member Harabedian

January 06, 2025

An act to add Section 8310.4 to the Government Code, relating to state and local government.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 91, as introduced, Harabedian. State and local agencies: demographic data.
Existing law requires state agencies, boards, and commissions that collect 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 and to include that data in every demographic report published on or after July 1, 2012, as specified.
This bill would require state and local agencies that collect demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians to use separate collection categories and tabulations for major Middle Eastern or North African groups, as specified, and, with certain exceptions, to include that data in every demographic report published on or after January 1, 2027, and to make the data available to the public.
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.
The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 8310.4 is added to the Government Code, to read:

8310.4.
 (a) A state or local agency 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 major Middle Eastern or North African groups in any provided form that offers respondents the option of selecting one or more ethnic or racial designations or languages as follows:
(1) Commencing January 1, 2026, and until collection categories are subsequently updated pursuant to paragraph (2), a state or local agency shall use separate collection categories and tabulations for the following groups:
(A) A major Middle Eastern group, including, but not limited to, Afghan, Bahraini, Emirati, Iranian, Iraqi, Israeli, Jordanian, Kuwaiti, Lebanese, Omani, Palestinian, Qatari, Saudi Arabian, Syrian, Turkish, and Yemeni.
(B) A major North African group, including, but not limited to, Algerian, Djiboutian, Egyptian, Libyan, Mauritanian, Moroccan, Somali, Sudanese, and Tunisian.
(C) A major transnational Middle Eastern and North African group, including, but not limited to, Amazigh or Berber, Armenian, Assyrian, Chaldean, Circassian, and Kurdish.
(2) Within 18 months following the release of a decennial census by the United States Census Bureau, a state or local agency shall update its collection categories and tabulations to reflect the major Middle Eastern and North African groups as reported by the census.
(b) Except as provided in subdivision (c), a state or local agency shall do both of the following with the data collected pursuant to subdivision (a):
(1) Include the data in every demographic report on ancestry or ethnic origins of Californians by the state or local agency that is published on or after January 1, 2027.
(2) Make the data available to the public in accordance with state and federal law, including, but not limited to, by publishing the data on its internet website.
(c) (1) A state or local agency shall not make data available to the public that would permit the identification of individuals. The state or local agency may, to prevent the identification of individuals, aggregate data categories at a state, county, city, census tract, or ZIP Code level to facilitate comparisons and identify disparities.
(2) A state or local agency shall not make data available to the public that would result in statistical unreliability.
(d) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Local agency” means a city, county, or city and county, whether general law or chartered.
(2) “State agency” has the same meaning as defined in Section 11000 and includes the California State University.
(e) The Legislature requests the University of California to comply with this section.

SEC. 2.

 The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this act, which adds Section 8310.4 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.

SEC. 3.

 The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this act adding Section 8310.4 to the Government Code addresses a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair as that term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of the California Constitution. Therefore, Section 1 of this act applies to all cities, including charter cities.

SEC. 4.

 If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.