Int. No. 937
By Council Members Dromm, Palma, Chin, Brewer, Ferreras, James, Koppell, Koslowitz, Lander, Mendez, Rose, Williams, Lappin, Koo, Eugene, Gonzalez, Recchia, Comrie, Rodriguez, Jackson, Weprin, Mark-Viverito, Dickens, Levin, Greenfield, Nelson, Van Bramer, Arroyo, Garodnick, Barron, Vacca, Richards and Halloran
A Local Law to amend the New York city charter, in relation to city agencies' collection of demographic data regarding Asian Pacific American sub-demographic groups.
Be it enacted by the Council as follows:
Section 1. Legislative findings. The 2010 Census revealed that between 2000 and 2010, Asian Pacific Americans were the fastest growing community in New York City, growing by 30 percent. Asian Pacific Americans now represent 14 percent of the City's total population. While Asian Pacific Americans are often treated as a homogeneous group, in fact, the City's Asian Pacific American population is comprised of many different nationalities and ethnic groups that are geographically, culturally, politically, economically, and socially diverse. The various sub-demographic groups within the City's Asian Pacific American community face different challenges and require different needs in seeking services from city agencies. Yet presently, there is a lack of particularized demographic data regarding these various sub-demographic groups. Specific, disaggregated demographic data is necessary in order for policymakers to accurately diagnose deficiencies and target solutions that address the concerns of all members of the City's Asian Pacific American population.
§2. Section 15 of chapter 1 of the New York city charter is amended by adding a new subdivision g to read as follows:
g. 1. The office of operations shall ensure that any city agency that directly or by contract collects via form documents demographic information regarding the ancestry or ethnic origin of city residents seeking services shall include on any such form documents separate collection categories for each major Asian Pacific American group, including, but not limited to: Bangladeshi, Bhutanese, Burmese, Cambodian, Chinese, Filipino, Guamanian, Indian, Indonesian, Japanese, Korean, Malaysian, Native Hawaiian, Nepalese, Pacific Islander, Pakistani, Samoan, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, Thai, Tibetan, and Vietnamese.
2. The office of operations shall ensure that any city agency that directly or by contract collects via form documents demographic information regarding the ancestry or ethnic origin of city residents seeking services shall include on any such form documents separate spaces to identify country of origin and number of years in the United States.
3. The office of operations shall ensure that any city agency that directly or by contract collects via form documents demographic information regarding the ancestry or ethnic origin of city residents seeking services shall include on any such form documents separate collection categories for their primary language, which shall allow respondents to select from among, but not limited to, the top twenty most frequently spoken Asian languages (languages and dialects spoken in East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia) as identified in the most recent United States census and shall include an open-ended option to identify an 'other' primary language.
4. Any such data collected by a city agency pursuant to the different collection categories described in subdivision one shall be available to the public on the internet in accordance with section 23-502 of the administrative code.
§3. This local law shall take effect one-hundred twenty days following its enactment.
SAG
LS #3657
9.6.12