Contents

1. Overview
2. Methodology
3. Legal Framework
4. Demonstration Analyses
5. Partnering to Measure Legislation’s Equity Impact

Overview 

Scoring Policy Proposals for Improving Equity Outcomes

While budget scoring can forecast a 10-year deficit impact, the analysis does not capture the values of fairness and justice embedded in the Constitution and the effect on people’s day-to-day lives. To fully understand how a proposed policy fulfills or advances these principles, policymakers need a scoring process that evaluates its potential to advance equity and align with Constitutional goals. 

The Equity Scoring Initiative (ESI) is designed to meet this need, equipping decisionmakers with the tools to prioritize equity in the legislative process. 

Economic Disparities and the Path to Equity 

The current level of economic insecurity and inequality is untenable for a thriving economy and society. 

• One in four Americans are economically insecure, living in households earning below 200 percent of the federal poverty level. 
• In 2023, this equated to about $29,000 a year for a single person or a maximum of $60,000 for a family of four. 
• In 2018, the top 1 percent of earners received more than 20 percent of the nation’s income.

Government policies can help alleviate the economic injustices they helped create. ESI will analyze how well these policies can create new paths to economic security and well-being for all.

Methodology

Equity assessment and scoring produce a quantifiable estimate of a policy’s potential to advance progress toward an equity goal.  An equity score reflects the progress a policy could achieve toward fairness for its populations and outcomes of interest.  

The Equity Scoring Initiative is building an approach to evaluating a policy’s potential impact on equity, drawing on a growing body of conceptual, methodological, and applied research. Our methodology aims to serve as a resource for the field, providing a discussion framework and systematic approach to producing information for a range of audiences from legislative staff to advocates and technical researchers. In these early days of developing the method, we also expect to build on feedback we receive.

Check back soon for more details.

Products

• A Scalable Approach to Scoring Policy for Its Impact on Equity (forthcoming)
• Scoring Federal Legislation for Equity: Definition, Framework, and Potential Application (June 2022)

Legal Framework

By PolicyLink and RelmanColfax LLC

Our vision for equity scoring is bold and therefore generational. A winning strategy for equity scoring requires a visionary approach that charts a new path as well as a savvy defensive approach. We are mindful of where this nascent work is most vulnerable to critique and offer corresponding guardrails. In the current political and social climate that has seen the reversal of race-based affirmative action among other retrenchments, there are those who will attack equity scoring as ill-advised if not outright illegal under the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment. They are wrong. We want to allay any such concerns so that readers can fully engage with the more forward-looking equity scoring example that follows in this demonstration paper as well as the other reports and products of the Equity Scoring Initiative. 

Recent legal challenges to equal protection and movement to race-neutrality in governing policy implementation has created a chilling effect on government decisionmakers—elected and administrative—in advancing fairness and equitable outcomes. But equal protection does not require race blindness, and governing decisions may be informed by an understanding of whether and how effectively different policy options will reduce inequities, including accumulated inequalities based on race, gender, disability, or other characteristics.

Under current practice, equal protection is reactive and complaint-based. It requires individuals to prove that they have been harmed by policy implementation and to seek redress through administrative complaint or private legal action. However, instead of waiting until a law is passed and policy is implemented to see if any class of citizen is harmed, legislative scoring, as demonstrated by the Equity Scoring Initiative, can make equal protection proactive and expand the capacity of the federal government to repair past disparities and prevent future harm. 

Scoring policies and regulations for equity contextualizes the projected impact of proposed legislation and enables legislators, and their constituents, to make more informed decisions. The Equal Protection Clause generally precludes legislation that deliberately treats people differently because of their race, ethnicity, or gender, but analyzing or scoring legislation for equity does not alter a bill’s underlying facial neutrality any more than budget scoring alters a bill’s fiscal impact. Both types of projections give policymakers insights into the long-term impacts of a proposal to facilitate their own analysis, but neither changes a bill. 

Demonstration Analyses

Since its launch in 2022, the Equity Scoring Initiative has developed a conceptual framework and call to action while completing four demonstration analyses that apply equity scoring to an array of policy topics. These analyses have included family support policies, national social benefit programs, and the appropriations that fund administrative expenses of critical social programs. 

We also provide guidance to governmental agencies, testing the utility and generalizability of our framework and the findings. Each application brings us closer to a replicable approach to equity scoring, allowing us to score policies as they are proposed and before they are passed and implemented.  

Products

• Does the 2023 Social Security Expansion Act Improve Equity in Key Outcomes? (October 2024)
• Does the SECURE 2.0 Act Improve Equity in Workers’ Access to Retirement Accounts? (October 2024)
• How Does Funding of Administrative Expenses Affect Equity? Underfunding the Social Security Administration’s Operations Disproportionately Affects People with Disabilities (October 2024)
• How Might Equity Scoring Apply to Federal Legislation? Examples from Recent Policy Proposals (December 2022)

Partnering to Measure Legislation’s Equity Impact

Since 2021, Urban Institute and PolicyLink have collaborated to find ways to measure the equity impact of proposed legislation. The products of this partnership can inform legislative action, public debate, media analysis, and advocacy on solutions to address systemic inequities.  

As a cornerstone project of the PolicyLink Governing for All portfolio, the ESI aims to address the root causes of inequity and injustice, helping ensure that all people can benefit from a thriving, multiracial democracy. 

Advisory Council

• Shaun Donovan, Former Director, Office of Management and Budget; Former Secretary, US Department of Housing and Urban Development
• Doug Elmendorf, Former Director, Congressional Budget Office
• Jessica Fulton, Vice President of Policy, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
• Ash-Lee Henderson, Co-executive Director, Highlander Research and Education Center
• Andre Perry, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution
• Lorella Praeli, Co-president, Community Change
• Julie Nelson, Senior Vice President of Programs, Race Forward

Staff

Urban Core Team

• Rekha Balu
• Karishma Furtado
• Claire Cusella
• Tianna Newton

PolicyLink Core Team

• Judith Dangerfield
• Jessica Pizarek 
• Abbie Langston
• Kristin Goss

Subject Matter Experts

• Chantel Boyens
• Rich Johnson
• Karen Smith
• Damir Cosic
• Marokey Sawo
• Jack Smalligan
• Mingli Zhong
• Greg Acs