A committee of the DC Council unanimously agreed on approving the Racial Equity Achieves Results Act (REACH) on Wednesday.
The bill voted by the Council’s Committee on Government Operations makes amendments to the Office of Human Rights Establishment Act of 1999.
The REACH Act requires establishing the Office of Racial Equity, led by the District’s new Chief Equity Officer. The office will be responsible for developing, providing oversight of, and advancing the city’s goals towards achieving racial equity. It will also produce racial equity training materials for DC employees, together with the Office of Human Rights, and coordinate with agencies in development of Racial Equity Action Plans.
A new Racial Equity Impact Assessment will be created for Council legislation by a new office within the Council, which will be similar to the current Financial Impact Statement.
Racial equity training will be mandatory for all employees of the District of Columbia Government and for members of District boards and commissions.
In addition, the District government is tasked with designing and implementing a racial equity tool by March 2021 to help District agencies incorporate racial equity into their operations, budgets, and programs.
A Commission on Racial Equity, Social Justice, and Economic Inclusion will be established at the request of the racial justice advocates who support the bill to continue to advance racial equity into the future.
“Only by building systems that are intentional in their design to account for implicit bias and systemic inequities, will every District resident truly have the same opportunities to prosper in our society,” Ward 5 Council member Kenyan McDuffie said about the bill.
“This has been a long process, and I think this is a historic piece of legislation,” noted McDuffie, who has been working to advance racial equity as a policy in the District for years.
At-Large Council member David Grosso also praised the move, saying it was a “very big step in the right direction.”
The DC Council approved in July the funding for the bill, which was introduced in January.