Researcher: KLM Page 1 4/23/25
OLR Bill Analysis
sSB 1506
AN ACT CONCERNING RACIAL AND ETHNIC IMPACT
STATEMENTS.
SUMMARY
This bill prescribes a new procedure to set the process for legislators
to request a racial and ethnic impact statement (REIS) on certain bills
and amendments.
Current law allows the Government Administration and Elections
Committee to make recommendations for a provision in the Joint Rules
on the procedure for preparing the statements, their content, and the
types of bills and amendments for which they should be prepared.
The bill instead requires the legislative Commission on Racial Equity
in Public Health to develop the procedures for (1) legislators to make
the request and (2) the commission to prepare the REIS. The commission
must send a letter with the procedures to the House speaker, Senate
president pro tempore, and the House and Senate majority and minority
leaders asking for their inclusion in the Joint Rules. The bill’s new
processes and requirements apply beginning with the 2027 legislative
session. (The current joint rules do not include a provision on these
statements, and by resetting the date by which they may begin to be
requested, the bill precludes the legislature from amending the joint
rules to include a process for them that would apply to the 2026
legislative session.)
By law, any legislator may request these statements. For bills
favorably reported during the regular session, the request must be made
within 10 days after the originating committee’s reporting deadline. For
amendments, the bill decreases the request window by requiring the
requests to be made at least 15 days before the end of session, instead of
at least 10 days before as under current law. 2025SB-01506-R000744-BA.DOCX
Researcher: KLM Page 2 4/23/25
The bill (1) allows the commission, regardless of any state law on
record and information confidentiality, to ask any public or quasi-public
agency for records and information in order to prepare a REIS and (2)
requires the agencies to comply within certain deadlines. It also requires
any prepared REIS to be posted on the General Assembly’s website.
EFFECTIVE DATE: October 1, 2025
AGENCY RECORDS
Under the bill, an agency that receives this request must submit the
records and information within the next five days. But the bill requires
the commission to give an agency a reasonable extension to fulfill the
request if the agency, within two days after receiving the request,
explains why more time is necessary to comply with it. It allows the
commission to copy any records and information it obtains so that it can
prepare a REIS.
COMMITTEE ACTION
Judiciary Committee
Joint Favorable Substitute
Yea 41 Nay 0 (04/08/2025)