OLYMPIA – Sen. Bob Hasegawa, D-Seattle, offered an amendment to the Senate budget that would have provided funding and/or guidance to agencies for racial and ethnic impact statements on certain proposed legislation, including in areas of criminal justice and education policy. The state already provides fiscal impact statements to proposed legislation upon legislators’ request, allowing lawmakers to know what monetary impacts there would be to the state budget or to agencies’ budgets should a bill pass into law. Racial and ethnic groups are often disproportionately impacted by changes to law, and Hasegawa’s amendment would have provided insight into the impacts on racial and ethnic groups in Washington prior to changes in policy.
The amendment was voted down on party lines, with all 13 Senate Republicans voting against it.
To hear more about the amendment, please click here or you can watch a video of Hasegawa speaking to his amendment below.

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