The intent of HB 2076 is to create a proactive tool intended to provide legislators with aggregated and disaggregated demographical data and other information to help legislators understand possible disparate racial and ethnic impacts as a means to better inform intentional decisions on legislative priorities.
The bill requires the caseload forecast council to: (1) In cooperation with appropriate legislative committees and staff, the office of financial management, the department of corrections, the department of social and health services, the administrative office of the courts, the minority and justice commission, the state institute for public policy, and the sentencing guidelines commission, establish a procedure for the provision of racial impact statements on the effect that legislative bills and resolutions will have on racial and ethnic minority groups, including the racial and ethnic composition of the criminal and juvenile justice systems; and (2) provide a racial and ethnic impact statement on any legislative proposal at the request of a legislator.
As amended the bill: Requires the Caseload Forecast Council (CFC) to begin preparing racial and ethnic impact statements on the effect that proposed legislation will have on racial and ethnic minority groups in criminal and juvenile justice systems. Allows the CFC to begin preparing racial and ethnic impact statements in other legislative areas as it develops capacity within its available resources.