New & Noteworthy
Hartford Foundation submits testimony in support of An Act Concerning Racial And Ethnic Impact Statements
On Monday, March 17, the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving submitted written testimony to the legislature’s Judiciary Committee in support of Senate Bill 1506, An Act Concerning Racial and Ethnic Impact Statements. We fully support establishing a process that can be effective in informing legislation with Racial and Ethnic Impact Statements (REIS) which demonstrate the potential impact proposals may have on Connecticut’s Black, Latine and other residents of color.
In Greater Hartford and across the country, Black and Latine communities as well as other communities of color face persistent disparities, which can create barriers to health, wellbeing, and wealth building. These disparities did not happen by accident. They are the result of decades of systemic factors and disinvestment in our communities, many of which are still woven into the fabric of our institutions.
To achieve the foundation’s mission and create a vibrant region, we recognize that significant steps must be taken to dismantle structural racism and advance equity in social and economic mobility, prioritizing Greater Hartford's Black and Latine communities.
The foundation has made a long-term commitment to this work, while taking immediate steps to address discrimination and assess the impact. We invest in work aligned with our strategic outcomes that support residents in reaching their potential, including Black and Latine and other marginalized communities where opportunities are limited and residents experience multiple challenges.
Our strategic grantmaking includes investing in efforts to increase the number of thriving Greater Hartford neighborhoods; employment and educational opportunities; civic engagement, participation, and awareness; and equity and inclusion in the arts sector, as well as to improve the physical and emotional wellbeing of residents. The foundation’s longstanding Nonprofit Support Program also supports building organizational capacity of nonprofits to address shared strategic goals, and our Learning & Evaluation work supports documenting community issues, progress, and challenges.
In 2018, the Connecticut General Assembly passed Public Act 18-78, becoming one of the first states in the nation to require that racial and ethnic impact statements be prepared at the request of any legislator, for certain bills and amendments. These statements provide lawmakers and other stakeholders with a tool to evaluate potential disparities created by proposed legislation prior to adoption. This helps to ensure that policymakers are making more informed decisions and making modifications to legislative proposals that potentially may exacerbate existing racial and ethnic disparities. The work also has the potential of showing where proposals could ameliorate disparities..
The legislative history in 2009 focused on impact statements for proposals “that could, if passed, increase or decrease the pretrial or populations of correctional facilities in the state.” This is an area where we have seen persistent, disproportionate incarceration rates of Black and Latine residents for many years. The legislation enacted in 2018, and the current proposal, broaden this work to “certain bills” in other areas that impact communities of color including, for example, legislation on housing, health, education, criminal justice, and other policy areas.
In 2022, the Connecticut General Assembly also passed a bill requiring the governor’s budget proposal to include an explanation of how its provisions further state efforts to advance equity in the state. This law supports ensuring that budget proposals identify and seek to correct past and present patterns of discrimination and discriminatory policies and effectively address racial and socioeconomic inequities. By fully implementing use of Racial and Ethnic Impact Statements, Connecticut can ensure that the focus on advancing equity extends beyond budgetary matters.
Seven years have passed since enacting legislation in 2018. The legislature has not yet enacted adequate procedures and developed the infrastructure to effectively implement the General Assembly’s use of the REIS tool. The proposal before the committee is designed to advance this work. The foundation supports the intent of Senate Bill 1506, which establishes a new process for creating racial and ethnic impact statements for legislative proposals and shifts the responsibility from a joint standing committee to the Commission on Racial Equity in Public Health.
To ensure that the implementation of Connecticut’s Racial and Ethnic Impact Statement (REIS) system was successful, in 2022 the foundation recognized the need for training for community residents and the legislature to expand understanding of what a racial equity tool is and why and how it is used. The foundation awarded a grant to the Commission on Women, Children, Seniors, Equity, and Opportunity to support training on the new Racial and Ethnic Impact Statements. One intent of this project was to educate and inspire community organizations to implement their own racial equity tool within their own work or advocate for it in their local municipality. This work included training, technical support, the development and rollout of a civic engagement survey, and branding and communications. CWCSEO provided information on the use of impact statements not only for policymakers, but other stakeholders who engage in the legislative process to ensure that they were aware of the tool and how it would be used.
In September 2022, the foundation was the lead sponsor of CWCSEO’s “Advancing Racial Equity Symposium,” an event designed to bring together legislators, staff, and community to discuss the necessity of analyzing proposed laws and spending through the lens of equity and opportunity. The symposium featured panel discussions with a variety of distinguished speakers including legislators, advocates, and community leaders. Panelists discussed the state of racial ethnic impact statements (REIS) and other racial equity tools in Connecticut and nationwide.
The implementation of a Racial and Ethnic Impact Statement is consistent with the legislature’s efforts since the pandemic to ensure that our policies do not disproportionately impact residents in our state, making racial equity a priority. As the Committee examines the timing for REIS requests by legislators and agency response requirements, we recommend establishing a straightforward, efficient process with realistic deadlines. We would suggest that legislators consider identifying a role the Commission on Racial Equity in Public Health could play in helping legislators identify proposals that would need a REIS analysis earlier in the legislative process.
Legislative sessions are time limited and intense. The foundation recommends considering state agency staffing and institutional capacity to collect, access, and assess REIS data. We support the provision allowing agencies to request an extension to the five-day response deadline. In some cases, agencies may not have the information in the form requested and may need to present why and provide the data that is available. The foundation has seen that among the nonprofits we work with challenges in data collection and analysis and anticipate agencies may need state support to build capacity.
The mission of the Commission on Racial Equity in Public Health—to make policy and systems change recommendations to eliminate racial and ethnic inequities—supports taking on this additional role. We appreciate the Commission’s efforts to propose this legislation and the breadth of its current equity work in community engagement, housing and the environment, education and economic security, and criminal justice, which will allow the state to build on existing knowledge. Having a nonpartisan entity administering this effort is critical to safeguarding it from political interference so that staff analysts are unencumbered by external pressure, promoting objective, data-driven policy recommendations.
Th foundation recommends examining additional staff and training the Commission may need to conduct REIS work. We recognize that the staff developing the impact statements needs to be skilled in the development of legislation and in quantitative and qualitative data analysis. It would also be important for staff to have a keen understanding of racial equity impact assessment tools and systemic bias mitigation. Within the foundation’s own learning and evaluation efforts, we prioritize the importance of utilizing disaggregated data that allows for analysis by geography, income, and race and ethnicity.
The foundation also appreciates this proposal’s involvement of all four legislative caucuses that will ensure that the new procedures are utilized in a bipartisan fashion. This proposal is similar to the REIS process developed by the Colorado legislature that ensures the office responsible for producing REIS collaborates with the legislative leaders in drafting the procedural rules and guidelines for the statements. This ensures that the staff tasked with completing REIS are able to communicate realistic expectations around resources and timeframes necessary to complete a thorough REIS.
The foundation also supports the proposed language to require state agencies, offices, and institutions provide the Commission with access to information within five days of a request. In order to produce an accurate statement, it is vital that the Commission can access information from state agencies, offices, and institutions in a timely manner.
The Hartford Foundation is ready to partner with legislators, the administration, advocates, philanthropy, and other stakeholders to address systemic inequities and ensure that Connecticut creates policies that provide all our residents with the opportunity to thrive.