SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — This week, California lawmakers approved some of the most ambitious laws in the nation designed to acknowledge and address a history of racist policies that have created inequalities for Black people, particularly in areas such as housing, education, and health care.
However, none of these measures include widespread direct payments to African Americans. Instead, the California Legislature passed laws aimed at returning land or providing compensation to families whose properties were unfairly taken by the government. They also issued a formal apology for the laws and practices that have caused harm to Black communities.
Yet, two critical bills that would have established a fund and an agency to implement these measures were not passed. Assemblymember Lori Wilson, chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus, stated on Saturday that more work is needed on these proposals, leading to their removal from consideration.
“From the very start, we understood it would be a tough challenge. We also recognized that this would be a multi-year journey,” Wilson told reporters.
Senator Steven Bradford, who introduced the bills, mentioned that they were not advanced because of concerns that Governor Gavin Newsom might veto them.
“We are at a pivotal moment, and as the Black Caucus, we owe it to the descendants of enslaved individuals and to Black Californians and Black Americans to ensure this legislation proceeds,” Bradford urged, encouraging his colleagues to reconsider the situation on Saturday afternoon.
While Governor Newsom has not publicly commented on most of these bills, he did sign a $297.9 billion budget in June that included up to $12 million for reparations legislation. However, the budget does not specify how this money will be used, and his administration has indicated it opposes some of the proposals. Newsom must decide by September 30 whether to approve the measures that passed.
Democratic Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer, who is Black, described his bill advocating for a formal apology for discrimination as “a labor of love.” His uncle was one of the African American students escorted by federal troops in the 1950s past a hostile white mob into Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, just three years after the Supreme Court ruled school segregation illegal. These students became known as the “Little Rock Nine.”
“I believe that my grandmother and grandfather would be incredibly proud of what we are about to do today,” Jones-Sawyer said before the vote on the legislation. “Their struggles in 1957 were intended to ensure we could advance the cause of our people.”
In 2020, Newsom enacted a law to create a pioneering task force to examine reparations proposals. Following California’s lead, New York state and Illinois have introduced similar legislation. The California task force released a comprehensive report last year with over 100 suggestions for lawmakers.
Additionally, Newsom approved a law last month requiring school districts that receive state funding for career education programs to gather data on student performance based on race and gender. This legislation, part of a reparations initiative supported by the California Legislative Black Caucus, aims to help close achievement gaps among students.
Returning Seized Property
The state Senate overwhelmingly backed a bill that would enable the return of land or compensation for families whose properties were taken through racially discriminatory practices using eminent domain.
This topic gained renewed attention in California recently when local officials in the Los Angeles area returned a beachfront property to a Black couple, decades after it had been unjustly seized from their ancestors.
However, the Newsom administration’s Department of Finance opposes the bill, indicating that the cost to implement it remains uncertain and could potentially range from hundreds of thousands to low millions of dollars annually, depending on the workload involved in processing applications.
It is unclear how this initiative would be enacted, even if Newsom signs it into law, given that lawmakers decided to drop the measure intended to create an agency to oversee it. This agency would have included a genealogy office aimed at assisting Black Californians in tracing their family history and confirming their eligibility for any future reparations.
Formal Apology
Another bill that the Legislature approved mandates California to accept responsibility and formally apologize for its historical role in promoting segregation, economic disparities, and discrimination against Black Americans.
The legislation requires the secretary of state to archive a final copy of the apology, making it available for public viewing.
The apology would acknowledge that the state “affirms its responsibility to protect the rights of the descendants of enslaved individuals and all Black Californians alongside their civil, political, and sociocultural rights.”
California American Freedmen Affairs Agency and Fund
The two unsuccessful proposals sought to establish an agency dedicated to implementing reparations programs if enacted in California.
Estimates suggested it could cost the state between $3 million and $5 million each year to operate this reparations agency, according to the California Government Operations Agency.
Additionally, a separate proposal aimed to create a fund for reparations programs that would be enacted in California. This fund would be allocated to address state policies that have adversely affected Californians descended from enslaved individuals or free Black individuals who lived in the U.S. prior to the end of the 19th century.
___
Associated Press writer Trân Nguyễn contributed to this report.
___
Austin is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on overlooked issues. Follow Austin on X: @sophieadanna
