This bill creates new statutory requirements and amends existing law to require Washington state agencies to collect voluntary, self‑identified demographic data using the U.S. OMB Statistical Policy Directive No. 15 as published March 29, 2024 (or more granular categories where appropriate). It mandates minimum disaggregation (including specified Asian subgroups such as Chinese, Vietnamese, Filipino, Korean, Japanese, and Indian), requires that demographic data be included in agency race/ethnic origin reports published after June 30, 2030, and directs the Office of Financial Management to convene and manage a multiagency committee (including state ethnic commissions, the governor’s office of Indian affairs, the office of equity, and the office of privacy and data protection) to review and approve exemption and variance requests. Agencies must submit multiyear phased implementation plans by December 1, 2026; the committee must report statewide implementation needs and costs by June 30, 2027. The bill specifies privacy protections, requires data publication to comply with HIPAA and FERPA, and defines "personal information" for confidentiality purposes. The bill reenacts and amends RCW 28A.300.042 to require the superintendent of public instruction and school districts to collect student‑level demographic data consistent with the referenced OMB standard, with school districts to begin collection in the 2025‑26 school year or as soon as practicable. It requires districts to resurvey newly enrolled or transferring students when subracial or subethnic categories were not previously collected and permits resurveying other students. All student data reports must be disaggregated by specified student subgroups (including race/ethnicity groups, low income, highly capable, transitional bilingual, migrant, special education, and students covered by section 504). Suspension and expulsion reports must be disaggregated and cross‑tabulated by school, district, listed student categories, behavior infraction codes, interventions applied, and suspension/expulsion days. A K‑12 data governance group must develop protocols and OSPI must modify the statewide student data system and incorporate staff training. The bill creates new sections (Secs. 1–6) forming a new chapter in Title 42 RCW, defines the term "agency" broadly (with a specific exclusion for a certain comprehensive cancer center), and references federal sources (OMB and U.S. Census Bureau). Important details are missing from the provided text: the full content of the OMB directive as used by the bill, parts of the school data collection sentence that were cut off, the precise membership rules and procedures of the multiagency committee, timelines or processes for reviewing exemption/variance requests, and any provisions on enforcement, penalties, or funding.

If enacted, every state agency and public K-12 system will need to collect and report much more detailed, self-identified race and ethnicity information using the updated federal OMB categories (with specified minimum disaggregation for Asian subgroups and other examples). Agencies must plan and phase in these changes, submit a multiyear implementation plan by December 1, 2026, and include the new demographic breakdowns in any demographic report issued after June 30, 2030; school districts must begin using the updated standard in 2025-26 where practical and resurvey newly enrolled or transferring students when subgroup information is missing. The Office of Financial Management must convene a multiagency committee to review exemption or variance requests when the added detail would create undue burden or privacy risk, and OSPI must update the statewide student system and train staff on collection best practices. Practically, state agencies and school districts will likely face new ongoing costs and staff time for planning, technology changes, training, data governance, and privacy protections, and they will have to make choices about when to seek exemptions if the benefit doesn’t justify those costs or risks. Reports will be more detailed and publicly available subject to HIPAA/FERPA and confidentiality measures like aggregation or suppression, which aims to limit privacy harm but also creates tradeoffs in how much detail can be published. The bill references the March 29, 2024 OMB standards but the exact categories and some implementation and committee procedures aren’t fully shown in the available text, leaving some details about timelines, funding sources, and review processes unclear.