Existing law establishes the state prisons under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide operation and fiscal information to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, including, among other things, data regarding the total expenditures and average daily population for each adult institution.

This bill would require the department to prepare and publish monthly demographic data, based on voluntary self-identification information from people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled, disaggregated by race and ethnicity, as specified. The bill would require, beginning January 1, 2025, the department to make the data publicly available on the departments internet website via the Offender Data Points dashboard.

Existing law establishes the state prisons under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide operation and fiscal information to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, including, among other things, data regarding the total expenditures and average daily population for each adult institution.

This bill would require the department to prepare and publish monthly demographic data, based on voluntary self-identification information from people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled, disaggregated by race and ethnicity, as specified. The bill would require, beginning January 1, 2025, the department to make the data publicly available on the departments internet website via the Offender Data Points dashboard.

Existing law establishes the state prisons under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide operation and fiscal information to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, including, among other things, data regarding the total expenditures and average daily population for each adult institution.

This bill would require the department to prepare and publish monthly demographic data, based on voluntary self-identification information from people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled, disaggregated by race and ethnicity, as specified. The bill would require, beginning January 1, 2025, the department to make the data publicly available on the departments internet website via the Offender Data Points dashboards.

Existing law establishes the state prisons under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide operation and fiscal information to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, including, among other things, data regarding the total expenditures and average daily population for each adult institution.

Existing law establishes the state prisons under the jurisdiction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide operation and fiscal information to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, including, among other things, data regarding the total expenditures and average daily population for each adult institution.

This bill would require the department, when preparing monthly demographic data, to prepare and publish the data disaggregated by race and ethnicity, including, but not limited to, by 28 ethnicity types. The bill would require the department use separate collection categories and tabulations for American Indian, Alaska Native, and each major Asian and Pacific Islander group, as specified, when collecting voluntary self-identification information pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled.

CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS

CSA1 Bill Id:AB 943

Author:(Kalra)

As Amended Ver:September 7, 2023

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to publish its monthly demographic data in a manner disaggregated by race and ethnicity, as specified.

Senate Amendments

1. Add the following racial and ethnic self-identification categories that CDCR must collect: Native Bangladeshi, Black, Colombian, Cuban, Guatemalan, other Hispanic not listed, Jamaican, Mexican, Nicaraguan, other Asian not listed, other Pacific Islander not listed, Puerto Rican, Salvadorian, unknown, and White.
2. State that, if the population number of any race or ethnicity category is under 50, CDCR must only reference those numbers as "fewer than 50" in order to protect personally identifying information.
3. Delay the publication requirement until January 1, 2025, and require the data be published on the Offender Data Points dashboard.

COMMENTS

As Passed by the Assembly: This bill required the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to publish its monthly demographic data in a manner disaggregating by major Asian, American Indian, and Pacific Islander groups.

Major Provisions

1. Required CDCR to publish its monthly population data disaggregated by race and ethnicity, including but not limited to, 28 ethnicity types.
2. Stated that when collecting voluntary self-identification information pertaining to race or ethnic origin, CDCR must use separate collection categories and tabulations for American Indian, Alaska Native, and each major Asian and Pacific Islander group, including but not limited to Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Laotian, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Thai, Pakistani, Samoan, and other specified ethnicities.
3. Required that the data, except for personal identifying information, be publically available on CDCR's website.

According to the Author

"AB 943 ensures a better understanding of the needs of all incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people by requiring CDCR to publish data disaggregated by race and ethnicity with specific categories for each major Asian and Pacific Islander group and Indigenous people. CDCR's current aggregation and literal "othering" of such a large, diverse number of ethnicities as one category further perpetuates existing biases and systemic inequities. With accurate data, this bill ensures the community and state can provide more well-rounded, culturally competent services to ensure all community members thrive."

Arguments in Support

According to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, "Currently, CDCR publishes monthly population data on the internet. It is stated that people in the system are able to self-report their ethnicity and choose from 28 categories. However, publicly available data does not list all of these categories. Instead, data is only available in four ethnicities and races: Hispanic, White, Black, and Others. In January 2023, there were 95,528 people in CDCR's custody, 6,217 of them were 'Others,' meaning there could be over 6,000 API and Indigenous people in the system, without being recognized as so.

"Missing data on Asian, Pacific Islander and Indigenous people create several critical challenges for these communities and the state. First, aggregated data masks the language needs that exist in the Asian and Pacific Islander population in the prison system. Research has shown that more than half of the Vietnamese population in California have limited English proficiency(LEP), and Thai, Chinese and Koreans are at around 40%. In the Pacific Islander community, Tongan and Fijian Americans have the highest LEP rates, at about 20% of the population. CDCR must release accurate data so that currently incarcerated people have a fair chance in obtaining language assistance when applying to parole, sentence reduction applications and other legal proceedings.

"Second, without accurate data, the state is omitting a big part of the Asian community and closes any door for the state and the public to identify program gaps that exist, such as the unique struggles and resiliency of the Southeast Asian community and the trauma that they face as refugees. According to a survey done by Asian Prisoner Support Committee, about 68% of respondents who are currently and formerly incarcerated said that war "was the main cause of displacement from their country." More research shows that 2 decades after the Cambodian civil war, where over 150,000 refugees fled to the U.S. since 1975, Cambodian refugees continue to experience high rates of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD (62%). Compounded by poverty, lack of language accessible mental health counseling, difficulties in schools, many Southeast Asian youth look for a sense of belonging in gangs. Accurate data can help policymakers and community leaders to understand challenges and opportunities facing this population in the prison system and help policy makers and community leaders to create culturally-sensitive in-prison and reentry programs to address unique issues that face this population.

"Third, under-reporting and not-reporting the number of Asians, Pacific Islanders and Indigenous people erase and diminish their existence and experiences. Masking Asians, Pacific Islanders and Indigenous people under "Others" perpetuates systemic racism because lack of data robs communities of opportunities to advocate for better policies that serve those groups. As an example, disaggregated data from the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department shows that while Samoans represented 0.56% of the county's population in 2010, they made up 5% of the county's Juvenile Hall population. A 2021 report shows that while the incarceration rate for multiple racial and ethnic groups fell from 2010-2019, the incarceration rate for Asian men rose by 7%, and Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander men rose by a staggering 44%. The state must take action to publish complete, accurate data to improve racial equity for all Californians."

Arguments in Opposition

None submitted.

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, Costs to CDCR, likely in the hundreds of thousands, to update databases, reporting structures, and policies to ensure CDCR collects additional race and ethnicity data as required in the bill (General Fund). CDCR would likely require additional staff resources to program the updates and provide training to implement the new policies and processes.

VOTES:

ASM PUBLIC SAFETY: 8-0-0

YES: Jones-Sawyer, Alanis, Bonta, Bryan, Lackey, Ortega, Santiago, Zbur

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 15-0-1

YES: Holden, Megan Dahle, Bryan, Calderon, Wendy Carrillo, Dixon, Mike Fong, Hart, Lowenthal, Mathis, Papan, Pellerin, Sanchez, Weber, Ortega

ABS, ABST OR NV: Robert Rivas

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0-0

YES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Chen, Connolly, Megan Dahle, Davies, Dixon, Essayli, Flora, Mike Fong, Vince Fong, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Garcia, Gipson, Grayson, Haney, Hart, Holden, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Jones‑Sawyer, Kalra, Lackey, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mathis, McCarty, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Jim Patterson, Joe Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Santiago, Schiavo, Soria, Ta, Ting, Valencia, Villapudua, Waldron, Wallis, Ward, Weber, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Zbur, Rendon

UPDATED

VERSION: September 7, 2023

CONSULTANT: Mureed Rasool / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN: 0002404

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: AB 943

Author: Kalra (D)

Amended: 9/7/23 in Senate

Vote: 21

SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 5-0, 6/27/23

AYES: Wahab, Ochoa Bogh, Bradford, Skinner, Wiener

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 9/1/23

AYES: Portantino, Jones, Ashby, Bradford, Seyarto, Wahab, Wiener

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 5/30/23 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Corrections: population data

SOURCE: Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Southern California

DIGEST:

This bill requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), in preparing monthly demographic data pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, released, and paroled, to disaggregate and publish the data by several Asian and Pacific Islander ethnicities, as specified.

Senate Floor Amendments of 9/7/23 delay implementation of the bill for one year.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Requires any state agency, board, or commission that collects demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians to use separate categories for each major Asian and Pacific Islander group such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Cambodian, Hawaiian, and others. (Gov. Code, § 8310.5.)
2. Requires the Department of Industrial Relations, the Civil Rights Department, and, in some cases, the State Department of Public Health, to collect and tabulate data for each major Asian and Pacific Islander group, as specified. (Gov. Code, § 8310.7.)

This bill:

1. Requires CDCR, in preparing monthly demographic data pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled, to prepare and publish the data disaggregated by race and ethnicity, including, but not limited to, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Black, Cambodian, Chinese, Colombian, Cuban, Filipino, Guamanian, or Chamorro, Guatemalan, Native Hawaiian, Other Hispanic Not Listed, Indian, Jamaican, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Mexican, Nicaraguan, Other, Other Asian Not Listed, Other Pacific Islander Not Listed, Puerto Rican, Salvadorian, Samoan, Thai, Unknown, Vietnamese, White, Tongan, Fijian, Bangladeshi, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, and Taiwanese.
2. Requires CDCR to use separate collection categories and tabulations for American Indian, Alaska Native, and each major Asian and Pacific Islander group, including, but not limited to, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Asian Indian, Laotian, Cambodian, Native Hawaiian, Guamanian or Chamorro, Samoan, Tongan, Fijian, Bangladeshi, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, and Thai when collecting voluntary self-identification information pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled.
3. Requires the data, except for personal identifying information that is deemed confidential, to be publically available on CDCR’s website.
4. Requires CDCR, if population number of any race or ethnicity category is under 50, to only reference those numbers as “less than 50” in order to protect personal identifiable information.

Background

CDCR currently publishes monthly data regarding incarcerated individuals who are in custody, have been admitted to the department’s custody, have been released onto any type of supervision, and who are on parole. Some of those data points include age, gender, offense category, sentence type, and ethnicity, among other things. Regarding ethnicity, CDCR has indicated that ethnicity is self-reported by individuals who choose from a list of 28 ethnicity types. When publicly reporting data related to ethnicity, CDCR divides it into four categories: White, Black, Hispanic, and “Others.”

This bill requires CDCR, in preparing its monthly demographic data pertaining to race or ethnicity, to include several specified racial and ethnic categories. Specifically, this bill takes the existing ethnic categories used internally by CDCR, adds nine Asian and Pacific Islander ethnicities, and makes minor changes to the names of generic ethnic categories such as changing “Other Asian” to “Other Asian Not Listed.”

This bill also requires CDCR to use separate collection categories and tabulations for 23 specified Asian and Pacific Islander groups when collecting voluntary self-identification information pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled. If the total number of any race or ethnicity category is fewer than 50 people, this bill requires CDCR to reference those numbers as “less than 50” in order to protect personal identifiable information.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, costs to CDCR, likely in the hundreds of thousands, to update databases, reporting structures, and policies to ensure CDCR collects additional race and ethnicity data as required in this bill (General Fund). CDCR would likely require additional staff resources to program the updates and provide training to implement the new policies and processes.

SUPPORT: (Verified 9/6/23)

Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Southern California (source)

ACLU California Action

Asian Prisoners Support Committee

California Immigrant Policy Center

California Nurses Association

California Pan-Ethnic Health Network

California Public Defenders Association

California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights

San Francisco Public Defender

Southeast Asia Resource Action Center

OPPOSITION: (Verified 9/6/23)

None received

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 5/30/23

AYES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Chen, Connolly, Megan Dahle, Davies, Dixon, Essayli, Flora, Mike Fong, Vince Fong, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Garcia, Gipson, Grayson, Haney, Hart, Holden, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lackey, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mathis, McCarty, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Jim Patterson, Joe Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Santiago, Schiavo, Soria, Ta, Ting, Valencia, Villapudua, Waldron, Wallis, Ward, Weber, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Zbur, Rendon

Prepared by: Stephanie Jordan / PUB. S. /

9/8/23 16:31:48

**** END ****

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: AB 943

Author: Kalra (D)

Amended: 6/19/23 in Senate

Vote: 21

SENATE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE: 5-0, 6/27/23

AYES: Wahab, Ochoa Bogh, Bradford, Skinner, Wiener

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 9/1/23

AYES: Portantino, Jones, Ashby, Bradford, Seyarto, Wahab, Wiener

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 5/30/23 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Corrections: population data

SOURCE: Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Southern California

DIGEST:

This bill requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), in preparing monthly demographic data pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, released, and paroled, to disaggregate and publish the data by several Asian and Pacific Islander ethnicities, as specified.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Requires any state agency, board, or commission that collects demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians to use separate categories for each major Asian and Pacific Islander group such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Cambodian, Hawaiian, and others. (Gov. Code, § 8310.5.)
2. Requires the Department of Industrial Relations, the Civil Rights Department, and in some cases, the State Department of Public Health, to collect and tabulate data for each major Asian and Pacific Islander group, as specified. (Gov. Code, § 8310.7.)

This bill:

1. Requires CDCR, in preparing monthly demographic data pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled, to prepare and publish the data disaggregated by race and ethnicity, including, but not limited to, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Black, Cambodian, Chinese, Colombian, Cuban, Filipino, Guamanian, or Chamorro, Guatemalan, Native Hawaiian, Other Hispanic Not Listed, Indian, Jamaican, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Mexican, Nicaraguan, Other, Other Asian Not Listed, Other Pacific Islander Not Listed, Puerto Rican, Salvadorian, Samoan, Thai, Unknown, Vietnamese, White, Tongan, Fijian, Bangladeshi, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, and Taiwanese.
2. Requires CDCR to use separate collection categories and tabulations for American Indian, Alaska Native, and each major Asian and Pacific Islander group, including, but not limited to, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Asian Indian, Laotian, Cambodian, Native Hawaiian, Guamanian or Chamorro, Samoan, Tongan, Fijian, Bangladeshi, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, and Thai when collecting voluntary self-identification information pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled.
3. Requires the data, except for personal identifying information that is deemed confidential, to be publically available on CDCR’s website.
4. Requires CDCR, if population number of any race or ethnicity category is under 50, to only reference those numbers as “less than 50” in order to protect personal identifiable information.

Background

CDCR currently publishes monthly data regarding incarcerated individuals who are in custody, have been admitted to the department’s custody, have been released onto any type of supervision, and who are on parole. Some of those data points include age, gender, offense category, sentence type, and ethnicity, among other things. Regarding ethnicity, CDCR has indicated that ethnicity is self-reported by individuals who choose from a list of 28 ethnicity types. When publicly reporting data related to ethnicity, CDCR divides it into four categories: White, Black, Hispanic, and “Others.”

This bill requires CDCR, in preparing its monthly demographic data pertaining to race or ethnicity, to include several specified racial and ethnic categories. Specifically, this bill takes the existing ethnic categories used internally by CDCR, adds nine Asian and Pacific Islander ethnicities, and makes minor changes to the names of generic ethnic categories such as changing “Other Asian” to “Other Asian Not Listed.”

This bill also requires CDCR to use separate collection categories and tabulations for 23 specified Asian and Pacific Islander groups when collecting voluntary self-identification information pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled. If the total number of any race or ethnicity category is fewer than 50 people, this bill requires CDCR to reference those numbers as “less than 50” in order to protect personal identifiable information.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, costs to CDCR, likely in the hundreds of thousands, to update databases, reporting structures, and policies to ensure CDCR collects additional race and ethnicity data as required in the bill (General Fund). CDCR would likely require additional staff resources to program the updates and provide training to implement the new policies and processes.

SUPPORT: (Verified 9/1/23)

Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Southern California (source)

ACLU California Action

Asian Prisoners Support Committee

California Immigrant Policy Center

California Nurses Association

California Pan-Ethnic Health Network

California Public Defenders Association

California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation

Ella Baker Center for Human Rights

San Francisco Public Defender

Southeast Asia Resource Action Center

OPPOSITION: (Verified 9/1/23)

None received

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 80-0, 5/30/23

AYES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Chen, Connolly, Megan Dahle, Davies, Dixon, Essayli, Flora, Mike Fong, Vince Fong, Friedman, Gabriel, Gallagher, Garcia, Gipson, Grayson, Haney, Hart, Holden, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lackey, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mathis, McCarty, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Jim Patterson, Joe Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Robert Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Santiago, Schiavo, Soria, Ta, Ting, Valencia, Villapudua, Waldron, Wallis, Ward, Weber, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Zbur, Rendon

Prepared by: Stephanie Jordan / PUB. S. /

9/2/23 9:51:46

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Anthony Portantino, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular Session

AB 943 (Kalra) - Corrections: population data

Bill Summary:

Requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), in preparing monthly demographic data pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, released, and paroled, to disaggregate and publish the ethnicity data, as specified.

Fiscal Impact:

Costs to CDCR, likely in the hundreds of thousands, to update databases, reporting structures, and policies to ensure CDCR collects additional race and ethnicity data as required in the bill (General Fund). CDCR would likely require additional staff resources to program the updates and provide training to implement the new policies and processes.

Background:

CDCR currently publishes monthly data regarding incarcerated individuals who are in custody, have been admitted to the department’s custody, have been released onto any type of supervision, and who are on parole. Some of those data points include age, gender, offense category, sentence type, and ethnicity, among other things. Regarding ethnicity, CDCR has indicated that ethnicity is self-reported by individuals who choose from a list of 28 ethnicity types. When publicly reporting data related to ethnicity, CDCR divides it into four categories: White, Black, Hispanic, and “Others.” This bill would require CDCR, in preparing its monthly demographic data pertaining to race or ethnicity, to include several specified racial and ethnic categories. It would also require CDCR to use separate collection categories and tabulations for 23 specified Asian and Pacific Islander groups when collecting voluntary self-identification information pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled.

Proposed Law:

• Requires CDCR, in preparing monthly demographic data pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled, to prepare and publish the data disaggregated by race and ethnicity, including, but not limited to, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Black, Cambodian, Chinese, Colombian, Cuban, Filipino, Guamanian, or Chamorro, Guatemalan, Native Hawaiian, Other Hispanic Not Listed, Indian, Jamaican, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Mexican, Nicaraguan, Other, Other Asian Not Listed, Other Pacific Islander Not Listed, Puerto Rican, Salvadorian, Samoan, Thai, Unknown, Vietnamese, White, Tongan, Fijian, Bangladeshi, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, and Taiwanese.
• Requires CDCR to use separate collection categories and tabulations for American Indian, Alaska Native, and each major Asian and Pacific Islander group, including, but not limited to, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Asian Indian, Laotian, Cambodian, Native Hawaiian, Guamanian or Chamorro, Samoan, Tongan, Fijian, Bangladeshi, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, and Thai when collecting voluntary self-identification information pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled.
• Requires the data, except for personal identifying information that is deemed confidential, to be publically available on CDCR’s website.
• Requires CDCR, if population number of any race or ethnicity category is under 50, to only reference those numbers as “less than 50” in order to protect personal identifiable information.

Related Legislation:

• AB 1726 (Bonta), Chapter 607, Statutes of 2016, required, among other things, the State Department of Public Health to collect data in a manner similar to this bill.
• AB 176 (Bonta), of the 2015-2016 Legislative session, would have required state health and education agencies collect population data disaggregated in a manner similar to this bill. AB 176 was vetoed by the Governor.
• AB 1088 (Eng) Chapter 689, Statutes of 2011, was substantially similar to this bill and applied data disaggregation requirements to the Department of Industrial Relations and the former Department of Fair Employment and Housing (now called the Civil Rights Department).

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Anthony Portantino, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular Session

AB 943 (Kalra) - Corrections: population data

Bill Summary:

Requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), in preparing monthly demographic data pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, released, and paroled, to disaggregate and publish the ethnicity data, as specified.

Fiscal Impact:

Costs to CDCR, likely in the hundreds of thousands, to update databases, reporting structures, and policies to ensure CDCR collects additional race and ethnicity data as required in the bill (General Fund). CDCR would likely require additional staff resources to program the updates and provide training to implement the new policies and processes.

Background:

CDCR currently publishes monthly data regarding incarcerated individuals who are in custody, have been admitted to the department’s custody, have been released onto any type of supervision, and who are on parole. Some of those data points include age, gender, offense category, sentence type, and ethnicity, among other things. Regarding ethnicity, CDCR has indicated that ethnicity is self-reported by individuals who choose from a list of 28 ethnicity types. When publicly reporting data related to ethnicity, CDCR divides it into four categories: White, Black, Hispanic, and “Others.” This bill would require CDCR, in preparing its monthly demographic data pertaining to race or ethnicity, to include several specified racial and ethnic categories. It would also require CDCR to use separate collection categories and tabulations for 23 specified Asian and Pacific Islander groups when collecting voluntary self-identification information pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled.

Proposed Law:

• Requires CDCR, in preparing monthly demographic data pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled, to prepare and publish the data disaggregated by race and ethnicity, including, but not limited to, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Black, Cambodian, Chinese, Colombian, Cuban, Filipino, Guamanian, or Chamorro, Guatemalan, Native Hawaiian, Other Hispanic Not Listed, Indian, Jamaican, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Mexican, Nicaraguan, Other, Other Asian Not Listed, Other Pacific Islander Not Listed, Puerto Rican, Salvadorian, Samoan, Thai, Unknown, Vietnamese, White, Tongan, Fijian, Bangladeshi, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, and Taiwanese.
• Requires CDCR to use separate collection categories and tabulations for American Indian, Alaska Native, and each major Asian and Pacific Islander group, including, but not limited to, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Asian Indian, Laotian, Cambodian, Native Hawaiian, Guamanian or Chamorro, Samoan, Tongan, Fijian, Bangladeshi, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, and Thai when collecting voluntary self-identification information pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled.
• Requires the data, except for personal identifying information that is deemed confidential, to be publically available on CDCR’s website.
• Requires CDCR, if population number of any race or ethnicity category is under 50, to only reference those numbers as “less than 50” in order to protect personal identifiable information.

Related Legislation:

• AB 1726 (Bonta), Chapter 607, Statutes of 2016, required, among other things, the State Department of Public Health to collect data in a manner similar to this bill.
• AB 176 (Bonta), of the 2015-2016 Legislative session, would have required state health and education agencies collect population data disaggregated in a manner similar to this bill. AB 176 was vetoed by the Governor.
• AB 1088 (Eng) Chapter 689, Statutes of 2011, was substantially similar to this bill and applied data disaggregation requirements to the Department of Industrial Relations and the former Department of Fair Employment and Housing (now called the Civil Rights Department).

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SAFETY

Senator Aisha Wahab, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular

Bill No: AB 943 Hearing Date: June 27, 2023

Subject: Corrections: population data

HISTORY

Source: Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Southern California

Prior Legislation: AB 1726 (Bonta), Ch. 607, Stats. 2016

AB 1088 (Eng), Ch. 689, Stats. 2011

Support: ACLU California Action; Asian Prisoners Support Committee; California Immigrant Policy Center; California Pan-Ethnic Health Network; California Public Defenders Association; California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation; Ella Baker Center for Human Rights; San Francisco Public Defender; Southeast Asia Resource Action Center

Opposition: None known

Assembly Floor Vote: 80 - 0

PURPOSE

The purpose of this bill is to require the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), in preparing monthly demographic data pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, released, and paroled, to disaggregate and publish the data by several Asian and Pacific Islander ethnicities, as specified.

Existing law requires any state agency, board, or commission that collects demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians to use separate categories for each major Asian and Pacific Islander group such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Cambodian, Hawaiian, and others. (Gov. Code, § 8310.5.)

Existing law requires the Department of Industrial Relations, the Civil Rights Department, and in some cases, the State Department of Public Health, to collect and tabulate data for each major Asian and Pacific Islander group, as specified. (Gov. Code, § 8310.7.)

This bill requires CDCR, in preparing monthly demographic data pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled, to prepare and publish the data disaggregated by race and ethnicity, including, but not limited to, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Black, Cambodian, Chinese, Colombian, Cuban, Filipino, Guamanian, or Chamorro, Guatemalan, Native Hawaiian, Other Hispanic Not Listed, Indian, Jamaican, Japanese, Korean, Laotian, Mexican, Nicaraguan, Other, Other Asian Not Listed, Other Pacific Islander Not Listed, Puerto Rican, Salvadorian, Samoan, Thai, Unknown, Vietnamese, White, Tongan, Fijian, Bangladeshi, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, and Taiwanese.

This bill requires CDCR to use separate collection categories and tabulations for American Indian, Alaska Native, and each major Asian and Pacific Islander group, including, but not limited to, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Asian Indian, Laotian, Cambodian, Native Hawaiian, Guamanian or Chamorro, Samoan, Tongan, Fijian, Bangladeshi, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, and Thai when collecting voluntary self-identification information pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled.

This bill requires the data, except for personal identifying information that is deemed confidential, to be publically available on CDCR’s website.

This bill requires CDCR, if population number of any race or ethnicity category is under 50, to only reference those numbers as “less than 50” in order to protect personal identifiable information.

COMMENTS

1. Need For This Bill

According to the author:

AB 943 ensures a better understanding of the needs of all incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people by requiring CDCR to publish data disaggregated by race and ethnicity with specific categories for each major Asian and Pacific Islander group and Indigenous people. CDCR's current aggregation and literal “othering” of such a large, diverse number of ethnicities as one category further perpetuates existing biases and systemic inequities. With accurate data, this bill ensures the community and state can provide more well-rounded, culturally competent services to ensure all community members thrive.

1. CDCR Population Data

CDCR currently publishes monthly data regarding incarcerated individuals who are in custody, have been admitted to the department’s custody, have been released onto any type of supervision, and who are on parole. Some of those data points include age, gender, offense category, sentence type, and ethnicity, among other things. Regarding ethnicity, CDCR has indicated that ethnicity is self-reported by individuals who choose from a list of 28 ethnicity types. When publicly reporting data related to ethnicity, CDCR divides it into four categories: White, Black, Hispanic, and “Others.”

This bill requires CDCR, in preparing its monthly demographic data pertaining to race or ethnicity, to include several specified racial and ethnic categories. Specifically, this bill takes the existing ethnic categories used internally by CDCR, adds nine Asian and Pacific Islander ethnicities, and makes minor changes to the names of generic ethnic categories such as changing “Other Asian” to “Other Asian Not Listed.”

This bill also requires CDCR to use separate collection categories and tabulations for 23 specified Asian and Pacific Islander groups when collecting voluntary self-identification information pertaining to the race or ethnic origin of people admitted, in custody, and released and paroled. If the total number of any race or ethnicity category is fewer than 50 people, this bill requires CDCR to reference those numbers as “less than 50” in order to protect personal identifiable information.

1. Argument in Support

The ACLU California Action writes:

Incarcerated individuals are deprived of liberty, separated from family and social supports, and report experiencing a loss of self-worth and high levels of uncertainty and fear. … In a recent statewide survey conducted by the Asian Prisoner Support Committee, a majority of more than 500 respondents indicated war as being the main cause for displacement from their country of origin. It cannot be denied that any post-traumatic stress that these individuals may be experiencing deserves culturally competent and sensitive in-person and reentry programs.

CDCR is funded and expected to provide opportunities for individuals to voluntarily prepare themselves for successful reentry. Because AB 943 requires disaggregation of data for Indigenous people, and additional Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander ethnic groups, it will improve understanding of the needs and experiences of these different communities.

-- END --

ASSEMBLY THIRD READING

ATR Bill Id:AB 943

Author:(Kalra)

As Introduced Ver:February 14, 2023

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to publish its monthly demographic data in a manner disaggregating by major Asian, American Indian, and Pacific Islander groups.

Major Provisions

1. Requires CDCR to publish its monthly population data disaggregated by race and ethnicity, including but not limited to, 28 ethnicity types.
2. States that when collecting voluntary self-identification information pertaining to race or ethnic origin, CDCR must use separate collection categories and tabulations for American Indian, Alaska Native, and each major Asian and Pacific Islander group, including but not limited to Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Laotian, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Thai, Pakistani, Samoan, and other specified ethnicities.
3. Requires that the data, except for personal identifying information, be publically available on CDCR's website.

COMMENTS

CDCR Population Data: Currently, CDCR publishes a number of data points regarding incarcerated individuals that include age, gender, type of offense, and ethnicity, among other things. (CDCR) Offender Data Points. [https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/cdcr.or/viz/OffenderDataPoints/SummaryInCustodyandParole] [as of Mar. 15, 2023].) When it comes to ethnicity, CDCR stated:

"Ethnicity is self-reported by offenders who choose from a list of 28 ethnicity types. Common examples of ethnicity choices captured in the "Others" category include American Indian, Asian, and Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. This category also includes offenders whose ethnicity is unknown or not self-reported."

However, when publicly reporting that data, CDCR divides it into four categories: White, Black, Hispanic, and "others." (Id.) According to the data, in February of this year the incarcerated population totaled 95,460 individuals; of those, 45.7% were Hispanic, 27.8% were Black, 20% were White, and 6.5% were "Other." (Id.)

This bill would require that CDCR not only collect, but also publish the data in a disaggregated format of at least 28 ethnicity types. This bill would also require that, when collecting the data, CDCR use separate collection categories and tabulations specifically for American Indians, Alaska Natives, as well as each major Asian and Pacific Islander group including, but not limited to Vietnamese, Cambodian, Chinese, Korean, Hmong, Samoan, Tongan, Guanamian or Chamorro, and others. The findings and declarations of the bill state that disaggregated data can provide better insight on disparities in the system. In the findings and declarations, this bill points out that in 2010, a San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department Report showed that Samoan youth made up 5% of all youth booked in its juvenile hall that year, whereas Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders made up only .5% of San Francisco’s total county population.

According to the Author

"AB 943 ensures a better understanding of the needs of all incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people by requiring CDCR to publish data disaggregated by race and ethnicity with specific categories for each major Asian and Pacific Islander group and Indigenous people. CDCR's current aggregation and literal "othering" of such a large, diverse number of ethnicities as one category further perpetuates existing biases and systemic inequities. With accurate data, this bill ensures the community and state can provide more well-rounded, culturally competent services to ensure all community members thrive."

Arguments in Support

According to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, "Currently, CDCR publishes monthly population data on the internet. It is stated that people in the system are able to self-report their ethnicity and choose from 28 categories. However, publicly available data does not list all of these categories. Instead, data is only available in four ethnicities and races: Hispanic, White, Black, and Others. In January 2023, there were 95,528 people in CDCR's custody, 6,217 of them were 'Others,' meaning there could be over 6,000 API and Indigenous people in the system, without being recognized as so.

"Missing data on Asian, Pacific Islander and Indigenous people create several critical challenges for these communities and the state. First, aggregated data masks the language needs that exist in the Asian and Pacific Islander population in the prison system. Research has shown that more than half of the Vietnamese population in California have limited English proficiency(LEP), and Thai, Chinese and Koreans are at around 40%. In the Pacific Islander community, Tongan and Fijian Americans have the highest LEP rates, at about 20% of the population. CDCR must release accurate data so that currently incarcerated people have a fair chance in obtaining language assistance when applying to parole, sentence reduction applications and other legal proceedings.

"Second, without accurate data, the state is omitting a big part of the Asian community and closes any door for the state and the public to identify program gaps that exist, such as the unique struggles and resiliency of the Southeast Asian community and the trauma that they face as refugees. According to a survey done by Asian Prisoner Support Committee, about 68% of respondents who are currently and formerly incarcerated said that war "was the main cause of displacement from their country." More research shows that two decades after the Cambodian civil war, where over 150,000 refugees fled to the U.S. since 1975, Cambodian refugees continue to experience high rates of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD (62%). Compounded by poverty, lack of language accessible mental health counseling, difficulties in schools, many Southeast Asian youth look for a sense of belonging in gangs. Accurate data can help policymakers and community leaders to understand challenges and opportunities facing this population in the prison system and help policy makers and community leaders to create culturally-sensitive in-prison and reentry programs to address unique issues that face this population.

"Third, under-reporting and not-reporting the number of Asians, Pacific Islanders and Indigenous people erase and diminish their existence and experiences. Masking Asians, Pacific Islanders and Indigenous people under "Others" perpetuates systemic racism because lack of data robs communities of opportunities to advocate for better policies that serve those groups. As an example, disaggregated data from the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department shows that while Samoans represented 0.56% of the county's population in 2010, they made up 5% of the county's Juvenile Hall population. A 2021 report shows that while the incarceration rate for multiple racial and ethnic groups fell from 2010-2019, the incarceration rate for Asian men rose by 7%, and Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander men rose by a staggering 44%. The state must take action to publish complete, accurate data to improve racial equity for all Californians."

Arguments in Opposition

None Submitted.

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Assembly/Senate Appropriations Committee. "One-time costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (General Fund) for CDCR to update databases, reporting structures, and policies to collect and publish race and ethnicity data as required by this bill. This estimate includes additional staff to program the database updates and provide training on implementation of the new policies and processes. CDCR reports minimal ongoing costs to continue reporting data as required by this bill."

VOTES

ASM PUBLIC SAFETY: 8-0-0

YES: Jones-Sawyer, Alanis, Bonta, Bryan, Lackey, Ortega, Santiago, Zbur

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 15-0-1

YES: Holden, Megan Dahle, Bryan, Calderon, Wendy Carrillo, Dixon, Mike Fong, Hart, Lowenthal, Mathis, Papan, Pellerin, Sanchez, Weber, Ortega

ABS, ABST OR NV: Robert Rivas

UPDATED

VERSION: February 14, 2023

CONSULTANT: Mureed Rasool / PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN: 0000700

Date of Hearing: April 26, 2023

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Chris Holden, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 943

Author:(Kalra) – As Introduced Ver:February 14, 2023

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: No Reimbursable: No

SUMMARY:

This bill requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to prepare and publish monthly demographic data disaggregated by race and ethnicity, including, but not limited to, by 28 ethnicity types. The bill specifies certain racial and ethnic groups that must be used to collect voluntary self-identification data from people admitted, in custody, released, and under parole supervision. The bill also provides that “the data” shall be publically available on CDCR’s website, except for confidential personal identifying information.

FISCAL EFFECT:

One-time costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars (General Fund) for CDCR to update databases, reporting structures, and policies to collect and publish race and ethnicity data as required by this bill. This estimate includes additional staff to program the database updates and provide training on implementation of the new policies and processes. CDCR reports minimal ongoing costs to continue reporting data as required by this bill.

COMMENTS:

1. Author’s Statement. According to the author:

AB 943 ensures a better understanding of the needs of all incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people by requiring CDCR to publish data disaggregated by race and ethnicity with specific categories for each major Asian and Pacific Islander group and Indigenous people. CDCR's current aggregation and literal “othering” of such a large, diverse number of ethnicities as one category further perpetuates existing biases and systemic inequities. With accurate data, this bill ensures the community and state can provide more well-rounded, culturally competent services to ensure all community members thrive.

1. CDCR Data Publication. Currently, CDCR publishes monthly demographic data about admissions into CDCR, people in CDCR custody, people released from CDCR, and people under parole supervision in a data dashboard available online. (See https://www.cdcr.ca.gov/research/offender-outcomes-characteristics/offender-data-points/) The dashboard currently uses the following racial and ethnic categories: black, Hispanic, white, and other. This bill would require CDCR to collect and publish ethnic and racial data from people admitted, in custody, released, and paroled from CDCR using separate categories for American Indian, Alaska Native, and each major Asian and Pacific Islander group, including but not limited to the groups identified by the bill. This bill follows prior legislation that required various state entities to collect data that captures similar expanded Asian, Pacific Islander, and Indigenous racial and ethnic categories.

As noted in the analysis of this bill by the Assembly Committee on Public Safety, this bill expressly prohibits publication of personally identifying information, but would allow publication of small data counts that could potentially lead to re-identification of individual people represented in the datasets. The author should consider adding language to the bill to prohibit publication of data that could identify individuals, or provide other direction about how to mitigate the risk of re-identification. Additionally, the author may wish to provide clarification about precisely which data must be disaggregated by the ethnic and racial categories named in the bill. As currently written, the bill simply states that CDCR must publish “monthly demographic data…disaggregated by race and ethnicity.” The author may wish to clarify whether the intent is to further disaggregate the racial and ethnic data that CDCR currently publishes, or to disaggregate by race all the demographic data published by CDCR. Such clarification could help CDCR implement the requirements of this bill.

Analysis Prepared by: Annika Carlson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: March 21, 2023

Counsel: Mureed Rasool

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON

Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, Sr., Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:

Author:() – As Ver:

SUMMARY: Requires the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to

publish its monthly demographic data in a manner disaggregating by major Asian, American Indian, and Pacific Islander groups. Specifically, this bill:

1. Requires CDCR to publish its monthly population data disaggregated by race and ethnicity, including but not limited to, 28 ethnicity types.
   
2. States that when collecting voluntary self-identification information pertaining to race or ethnic origin, CDCR must use separate collection categories and tabulations for American Indian, Alaska Native, and each major Asian and Pacific Islander group, including but not limited to Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Laotian, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Thai, Pakistani, Samoan, and other specified ethnicities.
   
3. Requires that the data, except for personal identifying information, be publically available on CDCR’s website.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Provides that every public agency or bona fide research institution concerned with the prevention or control of crime, the quality of criminal justice, or the custody or correction of offenders may be provided with criminal offender record information, including criminal court records, as required for the performance of its duties, including the conduct of research. (Pen. Code, § 13202.)
   
2. Requires any state agency, board, or commission that collects demographic data as to ethnicity to use separate categories for each major Asian and Pacific Islander group such as Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Cambodian, Hawaiian, and others. (Gov. Code, § 8310.5.)
   
3. Requires the Department of Industrial Relations, the Civil Rights Department, and in some cases, the State Department of Public Health, to collect and tabulate data for each major Asian and Pacific Islander group. (Gov. Code, § 8310.7.)

FISCAL EFFECT:

Unknown

COMMENTS:

1. Author's Statement: According to the author, “AB 943 ensures a better understanding of the needs of all incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people by requiring CDCR to publish data disaggregated by race and ethnicity with specific categories for each major Asian and Pacific Islander group and Indigenous people. CDCR's current aggregation and literal "othering" of such a large, diverse number of ethnicities as one category further perpetuates existing biases and systemic inequities. With accurate data, this bill ensures the community and state can provide more well-rounded, culturally competent services to ensure all community members thrive.”
   
2. CDCR Population Data: Currently, CDCR publishes a number of data points regarding incarcerated individuals that include age, gender, type of offense, and ethnicity, among other things. (CDCR) Offender Data Points. <https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/cdcr.or/viz/OffenderDataPoints/SummaryInCustodyandParole> [as of Mar. 15, 2023].) When it comes to ethnicity, CDCR stated:

“Ethnicity is self-reported by offenders who choose from a list of 28 ethnicity types. Common examples of ethnicity choices captured in the “Others” category include American Indian, Asian, and Hawaiian/Pacific Islander. This category also includes offenders whose ethnicity is unknown or not self-reported.”

(Id.)

However, when publicly reporting that data, CDCR divides it into four categories: White, Black, Hispanic, and “others.” (Id.) According to the data, in February of this year the incarcerated population totaled 95,460 individuals; of those, 45.7% were Hispanic, 27.8% were Black, 20% were White, and 6.5% were “Other.” (Id.)

This bill would require that CDCR not only collect, but also publish the data in a disaggregated format of at least 28 ethnicity types. This bill would also require that, when collecting the data, CDCR use separate collection categories and tabulations specifically for American Indians, Alaska Natives, as well as each major Asian and Pacific Islander group including, but not limited to Vietnamese, Cambodian, Chinese, Korean, Hmong, Samoan, Tongan, Guanamian or Chamorro, and others. The findings and declarations of the bill state that disaggregated data can provide better insight on disparities in the system. In the findings and declarations, this bill points out that in 2010, a San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department Report showed that Samoan youth made up 5% of all youth booked in its juvenile hall that year, whereas Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders made up only .5% of San Francisco’s total county population.

1. Population Data Disaggregation: In the U.S. the census is one of the major methods used to collect information regarding race and ethnicity. It has evolved quite significantly from its first iteration, in which the only categories were free white males and females, all other free persons, and slaves. (Pew Research. The changing categories the U.S. census has used to measure race. (updated 2020) <https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/25/the-changing-categories-the-u-s-has-used-to-measure-race/> [as of Mar. 15, 2023].) Over the years, the census categories evolved as the population and attitudes towards race and ethnicity did. The first racial category for Asians was introduced in 1870 with “Chinese.” (Id.) It was not until 1910 when “Other” was offered as a race category. (Id.) From the 1920s to the 1940s, Asian Indians were called “Hindus,” regardless of what their religion actually was. (Id.) In the year 2000, Americans could for the first time choose more than one race to describe themselves. (Id.) In the latest census, respondents could specify whether they were German, Lebanese, African American, Somali, Chinese, Japanese, or other specific ethnicity. (Id.)
   
   Fortunately, most of these changes seem to be driven by a greater awareness and appreciation of the diverse population in the U.S. This evolution has not occurred without some controversies though. Recently, in California, AB 1726 (Bonta) Chapter 607, Statutes of 2016, that sought to disaggregate the population data in a manner similar to this bill, caused some debate over how finely population data should be disaggregated. (NBC News. California Data Disaggregation Bill Sparks Debate in Asian-American Community. (Aug. 26, 2016) <https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/california-data-disaggregation-bill-sparks-debate-asian-american-community-n638286> [as of Mar. 15, 2023].) In one of its original versions, the bill would have required state education organizations to break down demographic data. (Id.) Proponents of the AB 1726 said that separating the demographic data would help better expose disparities in the healthcare and education system. They believed the mandate could have been useful for Southeast Asian students who tend to have lower academic achievement rates. (Id.) Critics feared it could be a backdoor way of ending California’s ban on affirmative action and said it further divided up Asians and Pacific Islanders into unnecessary and hyphenated groups. (Id.) An online petition in support of AB 1726 garnered approximately 1,700 signatures, while an opposing petition collected approximately 14,000. (Id.) Ultimately, AB 1726 was enacted, however, removed from its requirement were state education organizations. (Id.)
   
   The year prior to AB 1726, Governor Brown had vetoed a similar bill, AB 176 (Bonta). In his veto message, the Governor stated:

“Assembly Bill 176 would require the Regents of the University of California, the Trustees of the California State University, the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges and the Department of Managed Health Care to collect and report demographic information for Asians, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders by specified ethnic categories after the next census.

To be sure, there is value in understanding data on race, ethnicity, gender and other aspects of identity. On a broad level, these demographic data can signal important changes in society. On a practical level, they can help elucidate how our laws and programs can be shaped to reflect a changing population.

Despite this utility, I am wary of the ever growing desire to stratify. Dividing people into ethnic or other subcategories may yield more information, but not necessarily greater wisdom about what actions should follow. To focus just on ethnic identity may not be enough.

CSU, community colleges, and UC already provide many ways in which to self-identify, including choosing among several ethnic identities. In the case of CSU, there are 50 choices for API applicants alone. Codifying the collection and reporting of at least 12 API groups several years into the future appears unnecessary, or at least premature.”

Although there seems to have been controversy regarding similar distinctions, at this time, there is no opposition to this bill. This bill seems to be reflective of the progressive shift in our population data gathering and disaggregation.

1. Protecting Privacy: One thing the author may want to consider is determining subgroup size while protecting possibly personal identifying information. (National Center for Education Statistics. Best Practices for Determining Subgroup Size in Accountability Systems While Protecting Personally Identifiable Student Information. (2017) <http://ies.ed.gov/pubsearch> [as of Mar. 15, 2023].) Essentially, if the number of a subgroup is small enough, for example if there were only one person from a certain ethnicity in the CDCR population, then anyone looking at that data could potentially know whether that person was still incarcerated or released. This bill does state that personal identifying information must be kept confidential, but does not use more specific language. For example, existing law that deals with population data states that demographic data that would permit identification of individuals must not be published. (Gov. Code, § 8310.7.)
   
2. Argument in Support: According to the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, “Currently, CDCR publishes monthly population data on the internet. It is stated that people in the system are able to self-report their ethnicity and choose from 28 categories. However, publicly available data does not list all of these categories. Instead, data is only available in four ethnicities and races: Hispanic, White, Black, and Others. In January 2023, there were 95,528 people in CDCR’s custody, 6,217 of them were ‘Others,’ meaning there could be over 6,000 API and Indigenous people in the system, without being recognized as so.
   
   “Missing data on Asian, Pacific Islander and Indigenous people create several critical challenges for these communities and the state. First, aggregated data masks the language needs that exist in the Asian and Pacific Islander population in the prison system. Research has shown that more than half of the Vietnamese population in California have limited English proficiency(LEP), and Thai, Chinese and Koreans are at around 40 percent. In the Pacific Islander community, Tongan and Fijian Americans have the highest LEP rates, at about 20 percent of the population. CDCR must release accurate data so that currently incarcerated people have a fair chance in obtaining language assistance when applying to parole, sentence reduction applications and other legal proceedings.
   
   “Second, without accurate data, the state is omitting a big part of the Asian community and closes any door for the state and the public to identify program gaps that exist, such as the unique struggles and resiliency of the Southeast Asian community and the trauma that they face as refugees. According to a survey done by Asian Prisoner Support Committee, about 68 percent of respondents who are currently and formerly incarcerated said that war “was the main cause of displacement from their country.” More research shows that 2 decades after the Cambodian civil war, where over 150,000 refugees fled to the U.S. since 1975, Cambodian refugees continue to experience high rates of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD (62%). Compounded by poverty, lack of language accessible mental health counseling, difficulties in schools, many Southeast Asian youth look for a sense of belonging in gangs. Accurate data can help policymakers and community leaders to understand challenges and opportunities facing this population in the prison system and help policy makers and community leaders to create culturally-sensitive in-prison and reentry programs to address unique issues that face this population.
   
   “Third, under-reporting and not-reporting the number of Asians, Pacific Islanders and Indigenous people erase and diminish their existence and experiences. Masking Asians, Pacific Islanders and Indigenous people under “Others” perpetuates systemic racism because lack of data robs communities of opportunities to advocate for better policies that serve those groups. As an example, disaggregated data from the San Francisco Juvenile Probation Department shows that while Samoans represented 0.56 percent of the county’s population in 2010, they made up 5 percent of the county’s Juvenile Hall population. A 2021 report shows that while the incarceration rate for multiple racial and ethnic groups fell from 2010-2019, the incarceration rate for Asian men rose by 7 percent, and Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander men rose by a staggering 44%. The state must take action to publish complete, accurate data to improve racial equity for all Californians.”
   
3. Prior Legislation:
   
   1. AB 1726 (Bonta), Chapter 607, Statutes of 2016, required, among other things, the State Department of Public Health to collect data in a manner similar to this bill.
      
   2. AB 176 (Bonta), of the 2015-2016 Legislative session, would have required state health and education agencies collect population data disaggregated in a manner similar to this bill. AB 176 was vetoed by the Governor.
      
   3. AB 1088 (Eng) Chapter 689, Statutes of 2011, was substantially similar to this bill and applied data disaggregation requirements to the Department of Industrial Relations and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing.
      
   4. AB 1737 (Eng) of the 2009-2010 Legislation Session, was substantially similar to this bill and would have applied data disaggregation requirements to the departments of Health Care Services, Public Health, Social Services, Employment Development, State Personnel Board, and other specified agencies. AB 1737 was held in Assembly Appropriations Committee.
      
   5. AB 295 (Lieu) of the 2007-2008 Legislative Session, would have required various state entities to report collected demographic data according to each major Asian-Pacific Islander groups and make that data available to the public to the extent that disclosure did not violate confidentiality. AB 295 was vetoed by the Governor.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

Asian Pacific Islander Re-entry and Inclusion Through Support and Empowerment

Asian Prisoner Support Committee

California Immigrant Policy Center

California Nurses Association

California Pan - Ethnic Health Network

California Public Defenders Association (CPDA)

Immigrant Legal Resource Center

San Francisco Public Defender

Southeast Asia Resource Action Center

Opposition

None

Analysis Prepared by: