History

In response to these needs, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued in 1977 the "Race and Ethnic Standards for Federal Statistics and Administrative Reporting" contained in Statistical Policy Directive No. 15. The basic racial categories set forth in the Directive are: American Indian or Alaskan Native; Asian or Pacific Islander; Black; and White. The ethnic categories specified in the Directive are Hispanic origin, and Not of Hispanic origin. The population groups identified by the Directive No. 15 racial and Hispanic origin categories, therefore, reflected legislative and agency needs, and not efforts by population groups to be specifically identified.

The standards in this Directive have been used for almost two decades throughout the Federal government for record keeping, collection, and presentation of data on race and Hispanic origin. The standards have been used in two decennial censuses, and in surveys of the population, data collections necessary for meeting statutory requirements associated with civil rights monitoring and enforcement, and in other administrative program reporting. During the past several years, the standards have come under increasing criticism from those who believe that the minimum categories set forth in Directive No. 15 do not reflect the increasing diversity of our Nation's population. Some have also proposed changing the names of some categories.

The review of Directive No. 15 began in 1993 when the then Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Census, Statistics, and Postal Personnel, Thomas C. Sawyer, held four hearings focusing primarily on the measurement of race and ethnicity in the decennial census. In testimony on July 29, 1993, OMB announced that it would undertake a comprehensive review of the categories. As a first step in its review, OMB asked the National Academy of Sciences' Committee on National Statistics to organize a workshop to discuss issues surrounding a review of the categories. Convened on February 17 ­ 18, 1994, the workshop included representatives of Federal agencies, academia, social science research institutions, interest groups, private industry, and a local school district.

In order to facilitate collaboration and cooperation with Federal agencies, OMB established and held the first meeting in March 1994 of the Interagency Committee for the Review of the Racial and Ethnic Standards, whose members represent the many and diverse Federal needs for racial and ethnic data, including statutory requirements for such data. Over thirty agencies are members of the Committee, ranging from the principal statistical agencies (such as the Bureau of the Census, Bureau of Labor Statistics, National Center for Education Statistics, and the Center for Disease Control) to monitoring and enforcement agencies (such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs in the Department of Labor, and the Office for Civil Rights in the Department of Education). The Interagency Committee is an integral part of this review process, assisting OMB in the development of a research agenda to evaluate and assess proposed changes on, for example, the quality of the resulting data and costs of implementation.

Among the first tasks undertaken by the Interagency Committee was the development of a set of general principles to govern the review process. This process entails not only evaluating suggestions received during the public comment period but also balancing statistical issues, data requirements, and social concerns.

In the June 9, 1994, Federal Register notice, OMB invited comment on three areas: (1) the adequacy of the Federal racial and ethnic categories currently used; (2) the suggested changes and criticism offered by the public during the past few years; and (3) the principles that had been developed to govern the review process. To provide additional opportunities to hear views from the public on Directive No. 15, OMB conducted a series of public hearings during July 1994 in Boston, Denver, San Francisco, and Honolulu.

In response to the 1994 notice, the public commented on the need for new categories, changes for the current categories, whether racial and ethnic data should be collected, legislative and programmatic needs for the data, and the issue of self­identification versus observer identification. OMB received nearly 800 letters in response to the 1994 Federal Register notice and heard the testimony of 94 witnesses during the four public hearings. OMB heard from a wide array of interested parties including individuals, data users, and data providers from within and outside the Federal Government. This included comment by Federal agencies on their requirements for racial and ethnic data. Another Federal Register notice, issued August 28, 1995, summarized these findings and also briefly described research activities in several areas.

The Interagency Committee for the Review of the OMB Racial and Ethnic Standards created a Research Working Group charged with developing a plan to research the more important issues relevant to the review of the racial and ethnic categories. This led to an interagency research initiative, within existing resources, to assess new racial and ethnic reporting categories as well as the potential effects which changes in the categories would have on the quality of the resulting data. In June 1994, after conducting a literature review, the Research Working Group proposed the first project for its research agenda. That project was a Supplement to the Current Population Survey (CPS), funded by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), which would collect information on several key issues under review.

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