California lawmakers pass bill allowing people to identify their Jewish ancestry on state forms– abcnews.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California would allow Jews to voluntarily identify their Jewish heritage on state forms under a bill the state Assembly passed Monday.

The bill, which needs a final vote in the Legislature to head to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk, would require state agencies that collect demographic information to add “Jewish” as an option for ethnicity or ancestry. The goal is to give state officials and researchers better data on Jewish Californians, including their unemployment rates and representation in schools.

The data would enable lawmakers to create policies that address the needs of Jews in the state, said David Bocarsly, CEO of Jewish California, an advocacy group.

“It’s about inclusion as a community,” Bocarsly said, noting the Legislature has passed laws in recent years to collect more inclusive demographic data on Middle Eastern, North African and LGBTQ+ communities.

Some opponents of the bill are worried about the idea of the state collecting such data given the traumatic history of the Nazi government keeping records of Jews during the Holocaust. The proposal would bar agencies from disclosing “personal identifying information,” and bill author Henry Stern, a Democratic state senator who is Jewish, said California already has robust privacy protections that should assuage those concerns.

Sydney Levy of Jewish Voice for Peace, a progressive anti-Zionist group, wasn’t convinced by that argument.