Agency demographic data

AN ACT Relating to agency demographic data collection; reenacting 1
and amending RCW 28A.300.042; and adding a new chapter to Title 42 2
RCW. 3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that the state uses 5
demographic data to measure the efficacy of state-supported programs 6
and determine equity of opportunity and access to many state 7
programs. The legislature further finds that chapter 310, Laws of 8
2021 instructed the joint legislative audit and review committee to 9
perform racial equity analyses as part of its audits of state 10
agencies and programs, yet the committee is unable to fulfill this 11
mandate because most state agencies do not collect the necessary data 12
to fulfill this mission. 13
The legislature further finds that the federal government office 14
of management and budget published statistical policy directive 15
number 15: Standards for maintaining, collecting, and presenting 16
federal data on race and ethnicity, the goal of which is to ensure 17
the comparability of race and ethnicity across federal data sets and 18
to maximize the quality of the data by ensuring the format, language, 19
and procedures for collecting the data are consistent. While 20
statistical policy directive number 15 provides a minimum set of 21
S-1667.3
SENATE BILL 5784
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Senator Hasegawa
p. 1 SB 5784
categories that all federal agencies must use when collecting 1
information on race and ethnicity, that minimum is insufficient for 2
the state of Washington because of its great diversity of 3
ethnicities, cultures, backgrounds, and experiences.4
The legislature intends for all state agencies to collect 5
demographic data, beyond those minimum categories listed in 6
statistical policy directive number 15, in sufficient categories and 7
subcategories appropriate for the programs being analyzed. For 8
example, the Asian demographic must be broken down into as many 9
subcategories of ethnicities as is necessary to measure the efficacy 10
of our state-supported programs and determine the efficacy and equity 11
of opportunity and access to those being evaluated. At a minimum, the 12
Asian category must be disaggregated by subcategories including 13
Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Korean, Japanese, and Indian. Further 14
disaggregation of the subcategories may be necessary depending on the 15
circumstances such as disaggregating: Southeast Asians by Cambodian-16
Khmer, Thai, Lao, Mien, or Hmong; Pacific Islanders by compacts of 17
free association states, Samoan, or Chamorro; or by language such as 18
Cantonese, Mandarin, or Taishan. It is important for agencies and 19
program administrators to understand that the Asian demographic is 20
not one monolithic common demographic with the same needs or 21
cultures. Therefore, the legislature finds that analyses of state 22
agencies and programs must be based on the appropriate data set 23
collected with regard to the appropriate target demographic 24
categories and subcategories state programs are impacting.25
NEW SECTION. Sec. 2. The definitions in this section apply 26
throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires 27
otherwise.28
(1) "Agency" means any state board, commission, bureau, 29
committee, department, institution, division, or tribunal in the 30
legislative, executive, or judicial branch of state government. 31
"Agency" includes all elective offices, the state legislature, those 32
institutions of higher education created and supported by the state 33
government, and those courts that are parts of state government. 34
"Agency" does not include a comprehensive cancer center participating 35
in a collaborative arrangement as defined in RCW 28B.10.930 that is 36
operated in conformance with RCW 28B.10.930. 37
(2)(a) "Personal information" means: 38
p. 2 SB 5784
(i) An individual's first name or first initial and last name in 1
combination with any one or more of the following data elements:2
(A) Social security number; 3
(B) Driver's license number or Washington identification card 4
number; 5
(C) Account number or credit or debit card number, in combination 6
with any required security code, access code, or password that would 7
permit access to an individual's financial account, or any other 8
numbers or information that can be used to access a person's 9
financial account; 10
(D) Full date of birth; 11
(E) Private key that is unique to an individual and that is used 12
to authenticate or sign an electronic record; 13
(F) Student, military, or passport identification number;14
(G) Health insurance policy number or health insurance 15
identification number; 16
(H) Any information about a consumer's medical history or mental 17
or physical condition or about a health care professional's medical 18
diagnosis or treatment of the consumer; or 19
(I) Biometric data generated by automatic measurements of an 20
individual's biological characteristics such as a fingerprint, 21
voiceprint, retinas, irises, or other unique biological patterns or 22
characteristics used to identify a specific individual;23
(ii) An individual's user name or email address in combination 24
with a password or security questions and answers that would permit 25
access to an online account; and 26
(iii) Any of the data elements or any combination of the data 27
elements described in (a)(i) of this subsection without the 28
consumer's first name or first initial and last name if:29
(A) Encryption, redaction, or other methods have not rendered the 30
data element or combination of data elements unusable; and31
(B) The data element or combination of data elements would enable 32
a person to commit identity theft against a consumer.33
(b) The term "personal information" does not include publicly 34
available information that is lawfully made available to the general 35
public from federal, state, or local government records.36
NEW SECTION. Sec. 3. (1) Each agency shall collect voluntary 37
self-identification demographic data using the United States office 38
of management and budget statistical policy directive number 15 as 39
p. 3 SB 5784
published on March 29, 2024, that provides common language for 1
uniformity and comparability in the collection and use of race and 2
ethnicity data, minimum categories, and corresponding detailed 3
categories and subcategories. 4
(2) Each agency must consider and base demographic data 5
collection on the appropriate demographic data set necessary with 6
regard to appropriate target demographic categories or subcategories 7
of a program or agency being evaluated. 8
(3) The data collected under subsection (1) of this section must 9
be included in every demographic report on race or ethnic origin by 10
the state agency, board, or commission published or released after 11
June 30, 2025. The reports must state the reasoning and process used 12
to determine the appropriate data set. If the appropriate data set 13
cannot be collected, the report should state the reasons why. The 14
data must be made available to the public in accordance with state 15
and federal law, except for personal information, which shall be 16
deemed confidential. 17
(4) If any questions arise regarding the appropriate racial, 18
ethnic, or cultural categories or subcategories from which data 19
should be collected for any given program, the state ethnic 20
commissions and the governor's office of Indian affairs should be 21
consulted for advice. 22
(5) An agency must comply with the requirements of this section 23
as early as possible following the effective date of this section, 24
but at the latest by June 30, 2026. 25
NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. (1) An agency may submit a request to the 26
office of financial management for an exemption to the requirement to 27
collect more detailed data beyond the minimum categories if the 28
agency determines that the potential benefit of the detailed data 29
would not justify the additional burden to the agency and the public 30
or the additional risk to privacy or confidentiality.31
(2) An agency may submit a request to the office of financial 32
management for a variance to the detailed categories if the agency 33
determines that collecting different detailed data categories than 34
the ones listed in United States office of management and budget 35
statistical policy directive number 15 provides more useful or 36
accurate data for the collection's specific context and intended 37
uses. Any variances in detailed data collection must be able to be 38
aggregated up to the required minimum categories. 39
p. 4 SB 5784
(3) The office of financial management must review agency 1
requests for exemptions and variances, and only approve the requests 2
if they contain sufficient justification. 3
(4) The office of financial management and agencies must consult 4
with the ethnic commissions and the governor's office of Indian 5
affairs regarding which demographic breakdown is most important and 6
relevant to the program or programs being analyzed.7
Sec. 5. RCW 28A.300.042 and 2023 c 265 s 6 and 2023 c 242 s 8 8
are each reenacted and amended to read as follows: 9
(1) The superintendent of public instruction must collect and 10
school districts must submit all student-level data using the United 11
States ((department of education 2007 race and ethnicity reporting 12
guidelines, including the subracial and subethnic categories within 13
those guidelines, with the following modifications:14
(a) Further disaggregation of the Black category to differentiate 15
students of African origin and students native to the United States 16
with African ancestors;17
(b) Further disaggregation of countries of origin for Asian 18
students;19
(c) Further disaggregation of the White category to include 20
subethnic categories for Eastern European nationalities that have 21
significant populations in Washington; and22
(d) For students who report as multiracial, collection of their 23
racial and ethnic combination of )) office of management and budget 24
statistical policy directive number 15 as published on March 29, 25
2024, that provides common language for uniformity and comparability 26
in the collection and use of race and ethnicity data, minimum 27
categories, and corresponding detailed categories.28
(2) Beginning with the ((2017-18)) 2025-26 school year, or as 29
soon as practicable, school districts shall collect student-level 30
data as provided in subsection (1) of this section for all newly 31
enrolled students, including transfer students. When the students 32
enroll in a different school within the district, school districts 33
shall resurvey the newly enrolled students for whom subracial and 34
subethnic categories were not previously collected. School districts 35
may resurvey other students. 36
(3) All student data-related reports required of the 37
superintendent of public instruction in this title must be 38
disaggregated by at least the following subgroups of students: White, 39
p. 5 SB 5784
Black, Hispanic, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Asian, Pacific 1
Islander/Hawaiian Native, Middle Eastern/North African, low income, 2
highly capable, transitional bilingual, migrant, special education, 3
and students covered by section 504 of the federal rehabilitation act 4
of 1973, as amended (29 U.S.C. Sec. 794). 5
(4) All student data-related reports prepared by the 6
superintendent of public instruction regarding student suspensions 7
and expulsions as required under this title are subject to 8
disaggregation by subgroups including: 9
(a) Gender; 10
(b) Foster care; 11
(c) Homeless, if known; 12
(d) School district; 13
(e) School; 14
(f) Grade level; 15
(g) Behavior infraction code, including: 16
(i) Bullying; 17
(ii) Tobacco; 18
(iii) Alcohol; 19
(iv) Illicit drug; 20
(v) Fighting without major injury; 21
(vi) Violence without major injury; 22
(vii) Violence with major injury; 23
(viii) Possession of a weapon; and 24
(ix) Other behavior resulting from a short-term or long-term 25
suspension, expulsion, or interim alternative education setting 26
intervention; 27
(h) Intervention applied, including: 28
(i) Short-term suspension; 29
(ii) Long-term suspension; 30
(iii) Emergency removal; 31
(iv) Expulsion; 32
(v) Interim alternative education settings; 33
(vi) No intervention applied; and 34
(vii) Other intervention applied that is not described in this 35
subsection (4)(h); 36
(i) Number of days a student is suspended or expelled, to be 37
counted in half or full days; and 38
(j) Any other categories added at a future date by the data 39
governance group. 40
p. 6 SB 5784
(5) All student data-related reports required of the 1
superintendent of public instruction regarding student suspensions 2
and expulsions as required in RCW 28A.300.046 are subject to cross-3
tabulation at a minimum by the following: 4
(a) School and district; 5
(b) Race, low income, highly capable, special education, 6
transitional bilingual, migrant, foster care, homeless, students 7
covered by section 504 of the federal rehabilitation act of 1973, as 8
amended (29 U.S.C. Sec. 794), and categories to be added in the 9
future; 10
(c) Behavior infraction code; and 11
(d) Intervention applied. 12
(6) The K-12 data governance group shall develop the data 13
protocols and guidance for school districts in the collection of data 14
as required under this section, and the office of the superintendent 15
of public instruction shall modify the statewide student data system 16
as needed. The office of the superintendent of public instruction 17
shall also incorporate training for school staff on best practices 18
for collection of data under this section in other training or 19
professional development related to data provided by the office.20
NEW SECTION. Sec. 6. Sections 1 through 4 of this act 21
constitute a new chapter in Title 42 RCW.22
--- END ---
p. 7 SB 5784