Health & Welfare | Daily Report

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Of the more than 57,000 Tongans in the United States, 40 percent – nearly 23,000 – live in California. But you won't find them identified in California data: The state does not require agencies to count them.

Under a bill awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown's approval, Tongans would be one of 10 additional Asian and Pacific Islander groups included in demographic data collected by two state agencies. Supporters say the expansion is an important first step in revealing disparities masked by aggregated ethnic data and in better targeting resources and services.

AB 1088, approved 57-22 by the state Assembly last week, would require the Department of Industrial Relations and Department of Fair Employment and Housing to collect and report online this expanded demographic data starting July 1, 2012.

California currently requires data collection on 11 Asian and Pacific Islander ethnicities: Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Asian Indian, Hawaiian, Guamanian, Samoan, Laotian and Cambodian. The bill, by Assemblyman Mike Eng, D-Alhambra, would add Bangladeshi, Hmong, Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Taiwanese, Thai, Fijian and Tongan.

Together, these groups represent 13.4 percent of California's population, and their numbers have grown dramatically in the past decade, U.S. census figures show.

Yet many state agencies do not count all – or any – of these ethnic groups.

"It is an indication of a lack of accountability right now," said An Le, statewide network manager for the Asian Pacific American Legal Center, a co-sponsor of the bill. Requiring two agencies to report demographic data online is "a means of enforcement," she said. "If we as advocates see the data's not being collected, we can push and do some administrative advocacy to make sure they're in compliance."

For unrepresented groups, a lack of data has meant fewer resources or services addressing their needs; AB 1088 could change that, supporters said.

"In terms of advocating for funding or advocating for our community to be prioritized … we would be able to have data to back that up," said Alisi Tulua, program manager of the Tongan Community Service Center, a nonprofit serving Tongan communities in Southern California. "Right now in advocacy, we do it based on our stories, but the numbers are really important."

When it was introduced, AB 1088 also would have required the state Departments of Public Health and Health Care Services to collect expanded demographic data. But because of budget restrictions, the bill was shaved down to two agencies that would incur only minor costs.

Supporters of the bill said they are hopeful that more – and eventually all – state agencies will recognize the diversity of Asian and Pacific Islander groups.

"If we can show that having that data is useful in these departments, then we can advocate in the future for other departments to include us," Tulua said. "It's a great steppingstone for us, it's a great place to start, and it's better than nothing."