Government Code § 8310.4

8310.4.

(a) This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Middle Eastern and North African Inclusion Act (MENA Inclusion Act).

(b) A state or local agency that directly or by contract collects demographic data as to the ancestry or ethnic origin of Californians shall use the following separate collection categories and tabulations for a major Middle Eastern or North African group, including the following minor groups, in any provided form that offers respondents the option of selecting one or more ethnic or racial designations or languages:

(1) A minor 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.

(2) A minor North African group, including, but not limited to, Algerian, Djiboutian, Egyptian, Libyan, Mauritanian, Moroccan, Somali, Sudanese, and Tunisian.

(3) A minor transnational Middle Eastern and North African group, including, but not limited to, Amazigh or Berber, Armenian, Assyrian, Chaldean, Circassian, and Kurdish.

(c) Except as provided in subdivision (d), a state or local agency shall do both of the following with the data collected pursuant to subdivision (b):

(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, 2030.

(2) Make the aggregated 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.

(d) (1) A state or local agency shall not disclose personal identifying information about any person whose demographic data is collected pursuant to this section. 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 that would result in statistical unreliability.

(3) (A) Each state and local agency shall apply de-identification and privacy protection methods to demographic data collected pursuant to this section, including but not limited to consistent minimum reporting thresholds across race and ethnicity categories, consistent with applicable federal and state privacy laws, programmatic requirements, and established data governance policies.

(B) The state and local agency may tailor de-identification methodologies as appropriate to the specific program, dataset, or reporting context, provided that such methodologies reasonably protect against the identification of individuals and maintain compliance with statewide data standards.

(C) The state and local agency may suppress or aggregate categories when counts fall below established privacy thresholds, using methodologies consistent with federal, statewide, and departmental data governance guidance and program-specific reporting requirements.

(e) Any state or local agency administering a multi-year grant program with an established end date that began collecting demographic data prior to January 1, 2029, will not be required to include or use the demographic categories specified in subdivision (b) for interim or final reports.

(f) A state or local agency may continue to collect and report demographic data in the form that the data was submitted if the data is collected through an application, intake, survey, contract, grant, or agreement that was in effect or authorized for use prior to January 1, 2029, and modifying the demographic categories would require amendment of that application, intake, survey, contract, grant, or agreement.

(g) A state or local agency that collects or reports demographic data in a manner that differs from subdivision (b) pursuant to federal program requirements shall comply with the requirements of subdivision (b) to the extent the manner data is collected and reported pursuant to subdivision (b) is authorized for use under the federal program.

(h) For purposes of this section:

(1) “Local agency” means a city, county, or city and county, whether general law or chartered.

(2) “Personal identifying information” has the same meaning as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 530.55 of the Penal Code.

(3) (A) “State agency” means a state agency, office, officer, department, division, bureau, board, or commission.

(B) “State agency” does not include the California State University or the University of California.

(i) This section shall become operative January 1, 2029.