SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California lawmakers have approved legislation recognizing Jewish identity as an ethnicity strictly for state demographic data collection. The measure does not grant Jews minority status for California benefit programs or make Jewish individuals or businesses eligible for minority grants, contracts, procurement preferences or other state benefits.
Senate Bill 1387 has been sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom and is not yet law. If signed, its principal provisions would take effect in 2029.
The bill recognizes that Jewish identity can include shared ancestry, ethnicity, culture and history—not religion alone. It would require California agencies already collecting information about ancestry or ethnic origin to include a separate category for Jewish identity.
Participation would be voluntary, and public reporting would use aggregated data protected from identifying individual respondents. The information could help California measure employment, education, health and other outcomes affecting Jewish residents, identify disparities and guide future policy or funding decisions.
The bill recognizes Jewish identity as an ethnicity strictly for state demographic data purposes. It allows California to count Jewish residents, study their circumstances and identify potential disparities, but it does not include Jews or Jewish-owned businesses among the groups eligible for California’s existing minority-benefit programs. It provides no automatic access to minority grants, contracts, procurement preferences or other state benefits.
Selecting “Jewish” on a state form would not certify a company, make it eligible for a grant or provide access to a government contract. Any such benefit would require separate legislation or changes to the eligibility rules governing individual programs.
That is different from the historic federal minority-business framework established through the Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce.
In January 2025, Chamber founder and CEO Duvi Honig signed a first-of-its-kind Memorandum of Understanding at the U.S. Department of Commerce with Deputy Secretary of Commerce Don Graves and Eric Morrissette, who was performing the duties of under secretary of commerce for minority business development.
The agreement with the Minority Business Development Agency established a national framework for expanding access to capital, contracts, global markets and business-development resources for minority business enterprises within the Jewish community.
The initiative was intended to represent and benefit Jewish entrepreneurs and businesses across all 50 states—not only companies seeking certification or holding a particular Chamber membership.
Department of Commerce officials also directed the Chamber to establish an independent certification process based on federal guidance. The Chamber developed a due-diligence system for reviewing ownership, identity and business legitimacy and offers businesses at certain membership levels the option of applying for certification.
The certification provides qualified minority-owned businesses with vetted documentation that can be presented across corporate procurement systems and to federal, state and local entities—including counties, cities and townships—that recognize or operate under applicable federal minority-business guidelines.
Acceptance remains subject to the standards of each corporation, government agency or contracting program. Certification does not guarantee a contract or grant, but it gives qualified businesses a documented pathway for pursuing opportunities across government and the private sector.
The Chamber expanded that effort on June 3, 2026, by signing a separate MOU on Capitol Hill with the National Minority Supplier Development Council, one of the country’s largest and most established corporate supplier-development organizations.
NMSDC is led by President and CEO Donald Cravins Jr., a former under secretary of commerce for minority business development. The partnership was designed to connect the Chamber’s business network and certification work with NMSDC’s nationwide relationships across Corporate America.
The two developments should therefore not be confused.
California’s bill would add Jewish identity to state demographic data. The Chamber’s federal initiative created a national framework for recognition, certification and economic development, later expanded into Corporate America through NMSDC.
One is intended to count and study a population. The other provides qualifying businesses with a vetted pathway to pursue economic opportunities.
California’s legislation provides meaningful recognition of Jewish identity as an ethnicity and could influence future policy by revealing previously undocumented disparities. For now, however, its direct effect is demographic: it does not itself provide minority-business certification or automatic eligibility for state contracts, grants or procurement preferences.
JBizNews Desk | Sacramento and Washington
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