Hatch, Bennet Introduce Social Impact Partnership Act

WASHINGTON – Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Senator Michael Bennet (D-Colo), member of the Senate Finance Committee, today reintroduced the Social Impact Partnership Act, S.1089, legislation that aims to achieve better outcomes in social and public health programs for both beneficiaries and taxpayers.

The Social Impact Partnership Act directs resources to states and local communities to support innovative public-private partnerships in an effort to tackle social and public health challenges and establishes a new system for a smarter and more effective use of tax dollars. Under the Hatch-Bennet bill, the federal government would establish desired outcomes to pressing social problems that, if achieved, would improve lives and save taxpayer dollars. These arrangements are also known as social impact bonds or pay-for-performance contracts.

“This legislation encourages healthy competition and promotes ingenuity within the social service contract awards process, and I’m proud to reintroduce this bill with Senator Bennet,” Hatch said. “The Hatch-Bennet Social Impact Partnership Act will spur innovation and teamwork within the public and private sectors while making a positive impact on social and public health programs. This bill will keep control in hands of local leaders, reduce the federal bureaucracy, and help improve outcomes for those who use the services and the taxpayers that pay for them.”

“Social impact partnerships empower Colorado and other state and local governments to find innovative and more accountable ways to deliver crucial services and save taxpayer dollars,” Bennet said. “These public-private partnerships represent a shift to a model of government where results matter and where we pay for competence. Supporting targeted early interventions will help improve outcomes in health care, education, job training, child care, homelessness, and a range of other government services.”

Under a pay-for-performance model, a government enters into an agreement with a service intermediary working to deliver a set of services that will ultimately result in positive outcomes, while also producing long-term savings to local, state, and federal governments. The savings will often accrue to a combination of those three levels of government.

Text of the bill can be found here.

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