Best Practices for Health Impact Assessment Legislation

Many decisions made outside the health sector—in transportation, land use, housing, energy production, education and fiscal policy—have important implications for the public's health. Yet it is rare for these effects to be systematically analyzed and addressed in the policy making process. In contrast, fiscal and policy impacts are commonly analyzed and articulated in budget scoring and legislative analyses, and the environmental effects of decisions are often addressed through environmental impact statements. Health impact assessments (HIA) are emerging as an important way to help decision makers take health factors into account. This presentation will discuss findings from “Best Practices for Health Impact Assessment Legislation,” a report jointly issued by the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts. The discussion will highlight the best practices undertaken by state legislatures, the lessons learned, and the guiding principles for HIA legislation--defined as bills that would support, provide incentives for or require HIAs--with a target audience of state and local policy makers. This presentation should be considered as part of a panel of health impact assessments, along with abstract number 264621 and 264687.