DAC Version 3 Update: State Laws and Policies Regarding the Definition of Disadvantaged Communities and Prioritization of Funding to DACs - Instructions

Project Overview:

In September 2022, Lawyers for Good Government (“L4GG”) published the Disadvantaged Communities (DAC) Report.  This report is a 50-state survey that also includes Washington, DC and Puerto Rico.  This area of the law is rapidly shifting at the state level and new laws are being proposed annually.  An update is particularly timely at this juncture due to the Trump Administration largely abrogating its responsibility to protect the environment and disadvantaged communities. As such, states have an opportunity to help bridge the gap left behind by the federal government—and are endeavoring to mark that evolution—as well as identify model policies that can be expanded to other states. 

This project begins with Phase 1, which combines review and redline of the existing DAC Report for accuracy for 24 states and territories, as well as adding a few topics/questions to be researched.  The 24 states and territories are as follows: 

• Washington

• Oregon

• California

• Hawaii

• Arizona

• New Mexico

• Colorado

• Illinois

• Wisconsin

• Minnesota

• Michigan

• Pennsylvania

• North Carolina

• Maryland

• New Jersey

• New York

• Vermont

• Massachusetts

• Connecticut

• Delaware 

• Rhode Island

• Maine

• Puerto Rico

• Guam*

*Denotes new state/territory

SUBSTANTIVE BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR PARTS 1 and 2:

By Executive Order 14008 in January 2021, the Biden Administration launched the Justice40 Initiative (“J40”) to lessen inequality by committing to provide at least 40% of the benefits from all federal investments in climate, clean energy, water, and infrastructure to disadvantaged communities (“DACs”).  (See the prior DAC Report for more information regarding J40.) We strongly urge you to review the written portion of the DAC Report in addition to the State Level Findings to understand the background, context, and import of correctly defining DACs. In February 2022, the White House released its updated Climate and Economic Justice Screening Tool (“CEJST”) to map DACs, which was revised in December 2022. CEJST was developed in consultation with states, many of whom have developed their own similar screening tools for identifying DACs. CEJST uses census tracts and requires a tract to hit at least one socioeconomic factor and one environmental or climate indicator to be considered a DAC. CEJST identifies DACs based on various socioeconomic, environmental, and climate factors. Although the Trump Administration has taken CEJST down, there are archived versions hosted online by various environmental groups (for example, you can find archived data here and the interactive map here)

State law on equity, climate justice, and the definition of what it means to be a DAC has been developing for several years. Establishing the definition of DACs and the method by which these communities are prioritized may occur through a number of different mechanisms.  This includes: 

(1) State Statutes; 

(2) Administrative Rules (aka ”state regulations” or “secondary legislation”); 

(3) Formal Policy Documents (e.g., State Revolving Fund Intended Use Plan (“IUP”)); 

(4) Informal Guidance; and 

(5) Agency Practices. 

As a state statute, the definition may appear in different locations depending on its application. Generally speaking, the most relevant definition of DAC for the purpose of this report will be in a state law related to environmental law, air quality, and climate change. However, if a state does not have a DAC definition in this space, definitions in an adjacent field (i.e. drinking water) will become very relevant to the analysis. 

Some states also define DACs using criteria and mapping tools. The most popular type of tool screens geographies using an index of pollution exposure plus health and socioeconomic vulnerability. Examples include Maryland’s MD EJScreen tool and the California Communities Environmental Health Screening Tool (also known as “CalEnviro-Screen”), the latter being the longest-running of its type in the country and which is used to identify disadvantaged communities for the purpose of targeting investments.

For questions that go beyond the scope of the current report, it will be helpful to understand the organization of state agencies and the remit of those state agencies—as state agency websites will be the best place to start to ascertain the existence and content of different policies.

Instructions for Participating Attorneys:

1. Review the Research Questions and State Level Findings for Your State in the Existing DAC Report.

   • Before accessing the form, we recommend that you review all the research questions as formatted at the bottom of this document. Note that not all of the questions will be visible on the submission form unless you provide a certain response (e.g., “yes” to a yes or no prompt). 

   • Also review the State Level Findings Page in the existing DAC Report for your state here.  We are expecting that there may be some key developments post January 2025 that will be important to capture. 

2. Conduct Your Research.

   • We have provided research tools for you to use below.

   • When you review the existing DAC Report findings for your assigned state, make sure that each sentence is still legally accurate and that the citations are still valid. 

3. Compile Your Research.

   • We recommend that during the legal research process, you gather your findings in a Word or Google document prior to completing the online form.

   • In addition, please copy and paste the State Level Findings Page in the DAC Report for your state in a separate document, and then suggest any changes in a redline as needed. Please also verify that the links are up-to-date, correct, and still work. When you are finished with the redline, you will upload it to the same form linked below. 

4. Citations 

   • Please include citations and links for your answers when possible.

   • When citing existing legislation, please use Justia’s suggested universal citation for consistency.  See here for a link to an example of Justia’s Universal Citation.

   • When citing to proposed legislation, please cite to the state legislature’s website.

5. Submit Your Research.

   • Once you have completed your research, please copy and paste your findings into the corresponding fields using this online form. 

   • Submit the completed form online by Wednesday, September 10, 2025. 

   • Please check your answers for accuracy before pressing “Submit.”

   • Note: L4GG strongly prefers that a single attorney be responsible for filling out one form per state.

Questions? Email Jonathan@L4GG.org.

Tools:

As you conduct your research, we recommend you consult the following resources:

• Your Westlaw or Lexis account, or your preferred tool for researching a state’s code and case law

• Capitol Watch  (a Westlaw product that tracks legislation) or Lexis Advance for any questions related to whether there has been new or proposed state level legislation. There are certain search terms to use in Capitol Watch that might help answer the legislation-related questions: 

  • Environmental Justice Office search terms: (1) “Environmental justice”; (2) “environmental justice office”; (3) “equity office”; or (4) “environmental equity office”

  • Climate equity search terms: (1) “climate equity”; (2) “climate justice”; (3) “environmental justice”; (4) “climate protection”

  • Justice40 search terms: (1) “Justice40”; (2) “J40”; (3) “Justice 40”; (4) “40%”; (5) “forty percent”

• Justia (a publicly available resource of the state codes of each jurisdiction, so that legislators and advocates can quickly view the state code without hitting a Westlaw or Lexis paywall, however it does not include Westlaw or Lexis’s keycite or red flags to show if there is superseding case law)

• Google Scholar—Case Law (a publicly available resource of federal and state case law, so that legislators and advocates can quickly view the state code without hitting a Westlaw or Lexis paywall, however it does not include Westlaw or Lexis’s keycite or red flags to show if there is superseding case law)

• Existing Research/Background Documents That May Provide Helpful Background About Your State:

• United States Climate Alliance

• Rocky Mountain Institute

• Emerald City Collaborative

• World Resources Institute 

• Climate Policy Dashboard

• Archived CEJST Data

• Archived CEJST Map

RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

(PLEASE REMEMBER TO INCLUDE CITATIONS AND LINKS WHEN AVAILABLE FOR EACH OF YOUR ANSWERS)

For your assigned state, please answer the following questions:

Environmental Justice Infrastructure

[1] Does your assigned state have an office that works on environmental justice? If so, please answer the following questions:

[1a] What is the authorizing statute for this office?

[1b] What does the authorizing statute say about the office’s remit?

[1c] What is the office’s mission statement?

[1d] What, if any, policies/legislation that advance environmental justice has this office been responsible for?

Disadvantaged Community Definition/Policy

[2] Does the state have a definition of disadvantaged communities (e.g., low income/vulnerable/overburdened communities)?

[2a] If so, what is the policy and what is the terminology used?

[3] Does the state have any policies related to climate change, clean water, or pollution in a way that contemplates special treatment of disadvantaged communities?  Please include any policies that use climate change, water, or pollution/environmental harms as a rationale for prioritizing underserved communities  (e.g. clean energy targets, pollution exposure, safe drinking water) or that seek to address climate change adaptation or mitigation in vulnerable communities.

[3a] If so, how does the policy  prioritize underserved/disadvantaged communities and in what way does it prioritize those communities (e.g. a certain percentage of benefits going to disadvantaged communities)?

Justice40 and Mapping

[4] Does the state have policies that seek to replicate Biden-era Justice 40 policies?

[4a] If so, please describe those policies and if any updates have been made on or after January 20, 2025. 

[5] Does the state have a map that depicts disproportionate burdens? If yes,

[5a] Please provide a link to the map.

[5b] What metrics does the map show? (e.g. climate burden, health burden, income disparities, proximity to pollution sources)

[5c] Comparing the state map to an archived version of CEJST, are there metrics that the state map uses that are NOT present in the formerly used CEJST?

[5c1] If yes, please list those metrics.

[5d] Are there metrics that CEJST used that are NOT present in the state map?

[5d1] If yes, please list those metrics.

[5e] What agency is responsible for building this map?

[5f] How frequently is the map updated?

[6] Please attach a redline of the previous report for your state here. 

New Research Questions

[7] What programs or policies does the state have in place to ensure or improve climate resilience in disadvantaged/low-income communities in the wake of upcoming extreme weather events and other climate-related happenings?

[8] What disaster preparedness policies and plans does the state have in place for disadvantaged/low-income communities?

[9] Does the state have a community benefit ordinance or similar policy (whether state-wide or regional)? If yes,

[9a] Please outline those community benefits.

[9b] Does the community benefit ordinance/policy mandate community participation and/or that development projects provide for and commit to community benefits? 

Once you have completed your research, please submit your responses (with citations/links) using this online form. Thank you for contributing to this important project.