Bill > SB5784

This bill aims to improve demographic data collection across Washington state agencies by requiring more detailed and nuanced tracking of racial, ethnic, and cultural information. The legislation mandates that state agencies collect voluntary self-identification demographic data using the federal Office of Management and Budget's Statistical Policy Directive Number 15 as a baseline, but encourages agencies to go beyond minimum categories to better capture the state's diversity. Specifically, the bill requires agencies to break down broad demographic categories into more specific subcategories, using the Asian demographic as an example by recommending disaggregation into groups like Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Korean, Japanese, and Indian, and potentially further breaking these down by region, language, or specific cultural identities. Agencies must include these detailed demographic data in reports published after June 30, 2025, and explain their data collection methodology. The bill allows agencies to request exemptions or variances in data collection from the Office of Financial Management if they can justify that the detailed data collection would be overly burdensome or not sufficiently useful. For the education sector, the bill also updates existing law to align with these new demographic data collection standards, adding Middle Eastern/North African as a specific subgroup and requiring more granular reporting on student demographics and outcomes. The overall intent is to provide more accurate and meaningful data to help measure the effectiveness of state programs and assess equity of opportunity across different population groups.

Government Affairs

https://app.leg.wa.gov/billsummary?BillNumber=5784&Year=2025&Initiative=false