Section 2-2-2301 - Legislative declaration(1)(a) The general assembly finds, determines, and declares that:(I) The legacy of slavery, racial discrimination, and systemic racism has harmed Black Coloradans and continues to harm Black Coloradans in material ways. Black individuals and communities, whose unpaid labor formed the basis for wealth and power in this country, are owed the opportunity and resources to build wealth and power for themselves. Like many western states, Colorado is widely perceived as historically abstinent from participating in slavery. However, slavery was only fully abolished in the Colorado constitution in 2018.(II) Colorado demonstrates a track record of racial discrimination, resulting directly in racial disparities. The Ku Klux Klan wielded great influence and power in Denver and in state politics in the 1920s. Major Colorado towns such as Denver, Grand Junction, Pueblo, and Canon City were hotbeds of Klan activity. The Klan in Colorado peaked in 1925. By this time, it had infiltrated all levels of the state government. The Klan controlled many members of the legislature, held a state supreme court judgeship and seven Denver district court benches, and had controlling majorities in some town councils. Some of the most notable klansmen at the time included the mayor and police chief of Denver and the governor of Colorado.(III) The impact of those in power transpires into policies, systems, and practices adopted at the state level. Those policies, systems, and practices are built upon over decades and further ingrain inequities that have a disparate impact on Black Coloradans.(IV) In 2020, the home ownership gap between Black and White Coloradans was thirty-one percent. Just twenty-five percent of adult Black Coloradans have earned a postsecondary degree or credential, while ninety-one and four-tenths percent of tier one jobs identified in the Colorado workforce development council's 2022 talent pipeline report and seventy and four-tenths percent of tier two jobs require a postsecondary credential. In Colorado, Black individuals constitute five percent of the population but seventeen percent of those in jail and eighteen percent of those in prison. At thirteen and seven-tenths percent unemployment, Black workers in Colorado faced higher unemployment rates than other racial groups surveyed between May 2021 and April 2022. Black Coloradans experience a wide array of negative health outcomes at rates that are disproportionate to White Coloradans in the following areas: Food insecurity, infant mortality, childhood asthma, diabetes, and HIV and AIDS. The average Black Coloradan has a life expectancy nearly three years fewer than the average White Coloradan.(V) Disparities in both K-12 education and postsecondary training, including higher education and workforce training; home ownership; health disparities and access to health care; and a systemically unjust criminal justice system, combined with police brutality, have contributed to a reality in which half of Black families in Colorado are considered low-income. A lack of access to economic mobility and financial prosperity has impacted Black Coloradans for generations. Black Coloradans' lost earnings and assets detract from Colorado's labor force and tax base, as well as the growth of Colorado's economy.(VI) Racial equity studies are tools used to qualify and quantify past discrimination and recommend certain corrective measures as may be warranted by the study's findings.(b) Therefore, the general assembly declares that an independent study must be conducted and a steering committee be created in the state historical society to determine the extent to which Black Coloradans have experienced and continue to experience racial discrimination directly linked to harmful practices, systems, and policies of the state and to quantify the economic impacts of any discrimination discovered during the study.Added by 2024 Ch. 368,§ 1, eff. 8/7/2024.2024 Ch. 368, was passed without a safety clause. See Colo. Const. art. V, § 1(3).