Various state entities encourage the participation of, or require the inclusion of, people with direct lived experience, individuals from underrepresented communities, and those from vulnerable populations.? For example, the Strategic Plan Advisory Group established by the Children and Youth Behavioral Health Work Group must include in its membership individuals with lived experience receiving behavioral health services or whose family members have received such services.? Additionally, Community Health Advisory Boards are required to be broadly representative of the character of the community, with each boards composition consisting of community members with lived experience in areas such as health care access and quality, health care inequities, and social and economic sectors.? Also, the Utility Wildland Fire Prevention Advisory Committee must include two members representing historically marginalized or underrepresented communities.? Further, the Governor is required to appoint to the Criminal Justice Training Commission at least three members from historically underrepresented communities.

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The Office of Equity must:

• consult with certain state boards and commissions to identify issues related to access and meaningful participation in stakeholder engagement, and?
• develop a toolkit on best practices for supporting meaningful engagement of underrepresented individuals with direct lived experience participating on statutory entities.

Membership Requirements for Statutory Entities.

The membership of each statutory entity created on or after January 1, 2025, must include at least three individuals from underrepresented populations who have direct lived experience with the issue that the statutory entity is tasked with examining.? The entities must also reflect the diversity of people who have direct lived experience with the issue being examined.

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A statutory entity is any multimember task force, work group, or advisory committee, that is temporarily established by statute for the specific purpose of examining policies directly and tangibly affecting a particular underrepresented population, and that is required to report to the Legislature on that issue.

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An "underrepresented population" is defined as a population group that is more likely to be at higher risk for disenfranchisement due to adverse socioeconomic factors, such as unemployment, high housing and transportation costs relative to income, effects of environmental harms, limited access to nutritious food and adequate health care, linguistic isolation, and other factors that may be barriers to participation in policy decision making.? A person with "direct lived experience" means a person with direct personal experience in the subject matter being addressed by the statutory entity.

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If the membership requirements require that additional members be appointed to statutory entities created on or after January 1, 2025, the identified appointing authority for that statutory entity must appoint the additional members. ?If there are multiple appointing authorities for the statutory entity, the appointing authorities may collectively choose one appointing authority among themselves to make the appointments for any additional members or the appointing authorities may defer to the Office of Equity (Office) or a state commission, board, or committee to make any necessary appointments. ?Except for appointing authorities from the legislative branch, appointing authorities must consult with relevant state entities identified in the toolkit created by the Office when making appointments to the statutory entity. ?The additional members must have voting authority.

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The Statute Law Committee must include information about membership requirements for statutory entities in the Bill Drafting Guide.

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Reports.

Beginning January 1, 2025, each statutory entity must collect the following information:

• a brief description of the statutory entity's purpose; and?
• the underrepresented populations directly and tangibly impacted by its work, including:
  • the number of members who are appointed to the statutory entity who have direct lived experience with the specific policy that the statutory entity is tasked with examining;
  • anonymous?aggregate demographic information of statutory entity members related to disability status, age, race, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, and geographic representation;
  • an analysis of whether the membership requirements under the act reduced barriers to participation in policymaking decisions by members of underrepresented populations;
  • an analysis of how participation by members from underrepresented populations with direct lived experience affected the conduct and outcomes of the statutory entity as it accomplished its mission; and
  • the number of members from an underrepresented population who have direct lived experience and qualify for the existing statutory stipend of $200 per day, the number of those who requested stipends, and the number who received the stipend.

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The statutory entities must, by the date that its final report is due to the Legislature, report the collected information specified above to the Office, except that statutory entities administered by the Legislature must instead report the collected information to the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the House of Representatives.

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By October 31, 2026, and each October 31 thereafter, the Office must analyze the information provided to it by statutory entities as of the end of the prior fiscal year and include in its annual report to the Legislature:

• an overall evaluation of the process relating to membership requirements for statutory entities;
• recommendations for improving the membership process;?
• recommendations to further decrease barriers to participation; and
• recommendations to increase the diversity of statutory entity applicants.