(a) (1) The Employment Development Department shall, in the preparation and maintenance of any statistical analyses and data, by city, either by population, fiscal, or other bases, make a separate breakdown of the Antelope Valley using the boundaries described in subdivision (b). The statistical analyses and data shall include, but is not limited to, the following: wages, consumer price index, prevailing wage, unemployment, occupational wages, and median income.

(2) The Department of Finance shall, in the preparation and maintenance of any statistical analyses and data, by city, either by population, fiscal, or other bases, make a separate breakdown of the Antelope Valley using the boundaries described in subdivision (b). The department shall provide statistical analyses and data from any additional information it receives from the cities that are affected by this section and the information it receives through the census.

(3) If the use of a tax area code is required in order to comply with paragraphs (1) and (2), an alternate method shall be used to determine the separate breakdown of the Antelope Valley. An alternate method shall include the sum of the taxable sales attributable to all of the incorporated cities in the Antelope Valley and the taxable sales attributable to the unincorporated areas of the Counties of Kern and Los Angeles that are part of the Antelope Valley.

(b) For purposes of this section, the Antelope Valley is the census tracts or ZIP Codes that are closely bounded by the base of the Tehachapi Mountains moving southwesterly to Interstate Highway 5, down the base of the San Gabriel Mountains moving southeasterly to the San Bernardino County line, follow the San Bernardino County line north, to the northern line of California City, then west to the base of the Tehachapi Mountains.

(c) The Legislature encourages the Counties of Kern and Los Angeles to voluntarily provide data for the purposes of this section.

(d) The Department of Finance and the Employment Development Department are required to implement the data reporting and analysis requirements of subdivision (a) only to the extent that data is available from the federal, state, or local sources that provide data for other jurisdictions or is provided by Kern and Los Angeles Counties. The departments are not required to develop or collect data. No data shall be reported that would violate data confidentiality agreements or rules. The departments are not required to report data that would not meet the statistical accuracy standards for the publication or data series to which they relate. The departments may report special analyses or data compilations for Antelope Valley, if reimbursement or other funding is provided.

(e) The Employment Development Department shall request authority to use data and analysis tools developed for federal programs, as needed, to provide the analyses described in subdivision (a). The department shall not be required to use federal funds or federally controlled resources for the purposes of this section, unless that use is allowed under federal rules.

(Amended by Stats. 2006, Ch. 173, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2007.)