STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1374

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: S.B. No. 811

S.D. 2

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Labor & Government Operations, to which was referred S.B. No. 811, S.D. 2, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO DEMOGRAPHIC DATA,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to:

(1) Require any state agency, board, or commission that collects demographic data regarding ancestry or ethnic origin to use specific collection categories and tabulations and include that data in specified demographic reports;

(2) Require certain departments to compile and share with the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Office of Health Equity of the Department of Health, and general public their disaggregated data on Native Hawaiians, Pacific Islanders, and Asians; and

(3) Establish a Task Force on Twenty-first Century Data Governance to assess current demographic data collection, processing, retention, and sharing procedures used and the needs of and challenges faced by all state agencies and report to the Legislature on its findings and recommendations.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Education, Hawai‘i Coalition for Immigrant Rights, Papa Ola Lokahi, Hawai‘i Friends of Civil Rights, and one individual. Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Department of Labor and Industrial Relations, Department of Human Services, University of Hawai‘i System, and one individual.

Your Committee finds that Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and other Pacific Islanders represent 46.5 percent of the State's population. Given the diversity of languages and cultures, separating data for these ethnic groups and making that data accessible is critical to an understanding of the needs of these communities. In particular, the State has unique trust responsibilities with respect to Native Hawaiians that involve a variety of state agencies. The uniform collection and sharing of data specific to Native Hawaiians will allow the State to more effectively address community initiatives and programs.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Clarifying that state agencies, boards, or commissions shall not be required to publicly report data if prevented from doing so by federal or state law, but that these entities shall make a good faith effort to redact information that is not available for disclosure so that the rest of the data can be made public; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Labor & Government Operations that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 811, S.D. 2, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 811, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Labor & Government Operations,

____________________________

SCOT Z. MATAYOSHI, Chair