Addressing structural racism requires structural solutions. Racial and/or health equity impact assessments (R/HEIAs) help predict how a proposed policy, action, budget, or decision is likely to create, worsen, prevent, or reduce racial inequities. R/HEIAs are similar to fiscal notes or environmental impact assessments except that they focus on racial inequities. They analyze how a proposed law or decision is likely to impact structural factors that affect racial and other types of disparities. Because people hold multiple, overlapping identities, of which race is only one, R/HEIAs can help detect and prevent unfair and inequitable outcomes for people across a community. When designed properly and used effectively, R/HEIAs embed equity considerations into government processes and elevate health equity and anti-racism as a critical outcome in decision-making. The number of states and localities that use R/HEIA processes to assess proposed legislation has grown in the past decade as more jurisdictions explore R/HEIA laws or implement R/HEIAs in other ways. Many places also are using R/HEIAs in other types of decision-making processes, including rulemaking, planning, budgeting, and grantmaking. To deepen understanding of how R/HEIAs are being applied to proposed laws, researchers at the Public Health Law Center and the University of Minnesota School of Public Health collaborated on a study to analyze how R/HEIAs are being applied to food-related legislation at the state and local levels. This report summarizes the study processes and findings, and includes recommendations for key R/HEIA policy components.
Published: March 2025
ID #: CAS088
Publisher: Public Health Law Center
Authors: Julie Ralston Aoki, Melissa Laska, Garin Strobl
Keywords: Equity and disparities, Law/policy, Legal
Focus Area: Healthy Communities
State: National
Resource Type: Report
Related Research
November 2025
Measuring the impact of charitable food program cuts on the nutritional quality of foods
This study examines how sudden cuts to USDA programs supporting the charitable food system (i.e., The Emergency Food Assistance Program (TEFAP) and the Local Food Purchase Assistance Cooperative Agreement (LFPA)) affect the supply of healthy food available for distribution by food banks. Existing data from 15 food banks will be analyzed, and additional data will MoreJanuary 2025
Beyond Food Assistance: A Scoping Review Examining Associations of Nonfood Social Safety Net Programs in the United States With Food Insecurity and Nutrition Outcomes
This scoping review aims to summarize the state of the evidence on associations between participation in nonfood social safety net programs (eg, income assistance, housing assistance) in the United States and food- and nutrition insecurity–related outcomes. Six databases were systematically searched for peer-reviewed articles. Included articles (n = 65) reported on studies that examined 10 unique social MoreNovember 2024