Cal. UIC § 2615 — California Code / Code uic / Division 1 / Part 2 / Chapter 1 / Section 2615
Section 2615
Status: in_force

(a) The department, in the administration of this part, shall collect demographic data for individuals who claim disability benefits under Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 2625) or family temporary disability insurance benefits under Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 3300), including race and ethnicity data and sexual orientation and gender identity data. The department shall implement the requirements of this section by July 1, 2026.

(b) The department shall collect race and ethnicity data using standardized federal race and ethnicity categories from the federal Office of Management and Budget’s “Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity.”

(c) (1) The department shall also collect subgroup data for race and ethnicity subgroups that aggregate to the federal Office of Management and Budget categories.

(2) The department shall collect subgroup data for Hispanic or Latino individuals in a manner that is at least as detailed as that required by the 2011 federal standards for health care surveys, entitled “U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Implementation Guidance on Data Collection Standards for Race, Ethnicity, Sex, Primary Language, and Disability Status,” allowing individuals to not only self-identify as Hispanic or Latino but to also self-identify as Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano; Puerto Rican; Cuban; or other Hispanic or Latino origin.

(3) Individuals who choose the residual category “other Hispanic or Latino origin” shall be given the opportunity to specify the group with which they self-identify.

(4) The department shall collect subgroup data for Asian and Pacific Islander individuals in a manner that provides for data reporting that is at least as detailed as that required by paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 8310.5 of the Government Code for Asian and Pacific Islander individuals, allowing individuals to not only self-identify as Asian or Pacific Islander but to also self-identify as a member of one of the Asian or Pacific Islander subgroups specified in paragraphs (1) and (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 8310.5 of the Government Code or to choose a residual category of “other Asian” or “other Pacific Islander.”

(5) Individuals who choose the residual categories “other Asian” or “other Pacific Islander” shall be given the opportunity to specify the group with which they self-identify.

(d) The department shall collect sexual orientation and gender identity data in accordance with Section 8310.8 of the Government Code.

(e) The department shall adopt demographic data collection standards, procedures, and processes to implement this section. As the federal Office of Management and Budget’s race and ethnicity categories and standards evolve, the department shall update demographic data collection standards, procedures, and processes in accordance with any new minimum federal Office of Management and Budget race and ethnicity categories or standards, including, but not limited to, those pertaining to Middle Eastern and North African populations and the manner in which race and ethnicity questions are sequenced or combined.

(f) The department shall develop and make available online a public-facing dashboard that publishes disaggregated demographic data pertaining to program participation by individuals and is updated on at least a quarterly basis. The department shall benchmark that information to relevant demographic population estimates to ascertain whether program enrollment by members of the state’s various demographic groups is consistent with, or departs from, their share of the appropriate estimated population benchmarks. For race and ethnicity demographic data, such benchmarks shall be determined using population estimates for the federal Office of Management and Budget categories initially specified in subdivision (b) and subsequently specified pursuant to subdivision (e). Wherever available, additional benchmarks shall also be used for population estimates for the subgroup categories specified pursuant to subdivision (c).