; purpose (a) Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Minority impact assessments are a tool for lawmakers to evaluate potential disparities of proposed legislation prior to adoption and implementation. (2) There are 5,000 criminal penalties in Federal law and the number of Federal statutes carrying a criminal penalty has increased by 50 percent since the 1980s. (3) The enactment of criminal laws and penalties is a serious matter and the legislative process should reflect the gravity of this process. (4) The United States Sentencing Commission was created to reduce sentencing disparities, which provides a strong foundation for equity action in this branch of Government. (5) Criminal laws conceived and voted on in haste can lead to the enactment of unnecessary, duplicative, ineffective, or prejudicial criminal penalties. (6) In 2008, Iowa was the first State to enact minority impact assessment legislation, authored by former State Representative Wayne Ford, requiring that criminal justice legislation be evaluated with respect to whether it will disproportionately impact specified minority groups. (7) The Iowa law created a measurable decline in Black incarceration rates from 13.6 per 1 White resident to 9 to 1 White residents, demonstrating that minority impact assessments can effectively address disparities in lawmaking and sentencing. (8) Similar legislation has since been considered or enacted in New York, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Connecticut, Oregon, New Jersey, Colorado, Maine, and Virginia. (9) The NAACP and the National Black Caucus of State Legislators have adopted resolutions in support of Federal legislation providing for the use of minority impact assessments. (10) Precedent for adopting procedural measures that increase critical deliberation and require independent analysis at the Federal level of