State agencies: complaints: demographic data.

Assembly Member Ransom's legislation mandates new data collection requirements for discrimination and harassment complaints filed with California's Department of Education and Civil Rights Department. Beginning July 2026, both departments must gather detailed information about complaints, including demographic data of complainants and descriptions of agency responses, while maintaining strict confidentiality of personal information.

The bill establishes a framework for public transparency through annual summary reports posted on department websites. These reports will be shared with the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery, which must create public dashboards displaying the aggregated complaint data. All published information must be thoroughly de-identified to prevent recognition of individuals involved in complaints, adhering to state and federal privacy laws.

The legislation balances public access to complaint trends with privacy protections by explicitly prohibiting the disclosure of personally identifying information in reports and dashboards. While the underlying complaint data remains confidential under the California Public Records Act, the bill enables access to anonymous statistical information about discrimination and harassment cases processed by these state agencies.