Equity Impact Statements (S 805)

As the legacy of legislation has shown throughout the years, oftentimes a facially neutral policy can have devastating consequences on certain demographics -- a fact that has been shown time and time again in examinations of housing policy, criminal justice policy, education policy and more. The effect has led to long-lasting and deeply rooted discriminatory implications for BIPOC communities in particular. For this reason, we strongly supported legislation which would provide for the preparation every session of a limited number of "equity impact assessment statements" accompany proposed legislation to address its impact on race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, disability, age, and/or country of origin. Doing so would not only acknowledge that our governmental systems have sometimes worked, however unintentionally, to discriminate against vulnerable populations, but it would ensure that impactful future legislation has in its initial purview the possible ramifications or benefits to disadvantaged groups.