Assembly Bill (AB) 1088 requires two key state agencies to include the full spectrum of Asian American (AA) ethnicities, as well as Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander (NHOPI) ethnicities, in their data collection, consistent with the groups reported by the U.S. Census.
“We are extremely pleased that Governor Brown signed AB 1088 into law,” said Assemblymember Eng, who cosponsored the bill. “Asian Americans, as well as Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders, represent more than 30 ethnicities, and each community experiences its own unique challenges. Because information about these communities is frequently reported under one or two large categories, the experiences of specific ethnicities can be masked, preventing policy-makers, advocates, and elected officials from understanding the real issues that affect our communities. With this passage, the governor recognizes the disparities within the Asian American and Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander communities, and the role that the state of California has in addressing these issues.”
Current law already requires the collection and disaggregation of some Asian and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander groups, such as Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, and Samoan.
However, many emerging ethnic groups are not included in the law, and there are no mechanisms in place to respond to growth in populations. AB 1088 requires that data collected by the California Department of Industrial Relations and the Department of Fair Employment and Housing be disaggregated using the same categories used by the Census Bureau, including Bangladeshi, Fijian, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, Thai, and Tongan.
In addition, the data would also be made more accessible online. (end)
For more information, visit www.caasf.org.