S-677—which is now on the governor’s desk, having received overwhelming bipartisan support in the Legislature (34-0 in the Senate and 66-3-5 in the Assembly)—would require that a racial and ethnic impact statement be prepared for: (1) each proposed bill before the Legislature that would affect pretrial detention, sentencing, probation, or parole policies concerning adults and juveniles; and (2) any proposed agency rule or regulation that would affect pretrial detention, sentencing, probation, or parole policies concerning adults and juveniles. These racial and ethnic impact statements would include a statistical analysis of how the change in policy would affect racial and ethnic minorities, the impact of the change in policy on correctional facilities and services for racial and ethnic minorities, and the estimated number of criminal and juvenile justice matters involving racial and ethnic minorities adjudicated each year.
To the extent that S-677 merely regulates the manner in which the Legislature itself considers a bill, then presumably the governor would have no reason to intervene, and indeed each house of the Legislature could probably exercise its constitutional prerogative to adopt such a rule on its own, without presenting a bill either to the other house or the governor. To the extent that S-677 affects the activities of an agency of the executive branch, such as the Department of Corrections, however, the governor clearly has an interest in weighing the additional administrative burdens imposed against the benefits of an enhanced awareness of unintended disproportionate consequences that facially neutral regulations might have on minority communities, and particularly on incarcerated persons.
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