Racial Equity Commission.

Existing law establishes an Office of Health Equity in the State Department of Public Health for purposes of aligning state resources, decisionmaking, and programs to accomplish certain goals related to health equity and protecting vulnerable communities. Existing law requires the office to develop department-wide plans to close the gaps in health status and access to care among the state's diverse racial and ethnic communities, women, persons with disabilities, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning communities, as specified. Existing law requires the office to work with the Health in All Policies Task Force to assist state agencies and departments in developing policies, systems, programs, and environmental change strategies that have population health impacts by, among other things, prioritizing building cross-sectoral partnerships within and across departments and agencies to change policies and practices to advance health equity. Existing law establishes the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States to, among other things, identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies. Existing law requires the task force to submit a written report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature. This bill, until January 1, 2030, would establish in state government a Racial Equity Commission. The bill would require the commission to be staffed by the Office of Planning and Research. The bill would require the commission to develop resources, best practices, and tools for advancing racial equity by, among other things, developing a statewide Racial Equity Framework that includes methodologies and tools that can be employed to advance racial equity and address structural racism in California. The bill would require the commission to prepare an annual report that summarizes feedback from public engagement with communities of color, provides data on racial inequities and disparities in the state, and recommends best practices on tools, methodologies, and opportunities to advance racial equity and to submit that report, on or after December 1, 2025, and annually thereafter, to the Governor and the Legislature, as specified.