Governor Newsom Signs SB 1387, Making California the First State to Recognize Jewish Identity as an Ethnicity in Law

Bipartisan law lets Jewish Californians be counted in state hate crime, health and education data, with strict privacy protections

SACRAMENTO, CA – Governor Gavin Newsom today signed into law Senate Bill 1387, making California the first state in the nation to recognize Jewish identity as an ethnicity, in addition to a religion, in state law. The Assembly passed the bill 74-0, with 5 abstentions, and the Senate concurred in the Assembly's amendments 39-0, with 1 abstention. Today was the final day for the Governor to sign or veto bills.

Authored by Senator Henry Stern (D-Sherman Oaks) and sponsored by Jewish California (formerly JPAC), SB 1387 ensures that Jewish identity is captured when the state collects ethnicity data, so that hate crime, health, poverty, and education data can account for Jewish Californians. Most American Jews already understand their identity this way. In the Pew Research Center's 2020 study of Jewish Americans, 52% said being Jewish is mainly a matter of ancestry and 55% said culture, while 36% said religion. Yet California's data systems have never reflected that reality. In 2025, the California Attorney General recorded 289 anti-Jewish hate crime events in California, the second most against any group, yet it only accounted for religious biases.

The bill drew national debate over whether and how a government should count Jews. SB 1387 was written with those concerns at its center. Participation is voluntary, and the bill adds an option without removing or altering any existing religious-category data. All published data is aggregate – personal information is never shared – and the law bars the information from being used to create a registry of individuals or for law enforcement or immigration enforcement. The law takes effect January 1, 2027. State agencies must begin collecting the data by January 1, 2029, and the first reports will be published beginning January 1, 2030.

"This is a historic step for the Jewish community," said David Bocarsly, CEO of Jewish California. "Under the shadow of Nazi race theory, American Jewish leaders asked the government to count us only as a religion. That was an understandable attempt at self-preservation, and it didn't work. Our community was mischaracterized and misunderstood, and we were excluded from interethnic coalitions and the data that shapes policy. Good data makes good policy. Now hate crime, health, poverty, and education data will reflect who Jewish Californians actually are so we can ensure the best support for our community. Most importantly, it allows us to be seen as the diverse, complex people we are."

Jewish California thanks Governor Newsom and the California Legislature, Senator Stern for his leadership, the California Legislative Jewish Caucus for its support, and the 59 Jewish organizations that stood behind the bill.

"Being Jewish isn’t just a religion," said Senator Henry Stern. "So many Jewish Californians who aren’t religious at all, still identify (or are identified) as ethnically Jewish, but until now there’s been no way for them to express that – we’ve had to check White or Other and fill in the blank.  But we are a people, with a common origin, and through thousands of years of persecution and diaspora we’ve end up all over the world, including California. So the fact that the Governor sees us, and has now given space for the law to see us as well, is a bigger deal than I can adequately express.

Learn more at our SB 1387 website: https://www.jewishcal.org/sb1387

Follow the status of all Jewish California bills at our Policy Agenda Tracker: https://tracker.jewishcal.org/.