California lawmakers managed to pass just one portion of a significant three-bill reparations package addressing the legacy of slavery and racism as the state legislative session drew to a close, with reports suggesting concerns from the governor’s office influenced the outcome.
On the final day of the State Assembly session, demonstrators gathered to support the comprehensive measures put forward by Senator Steven Bradford. However, the bills were shelved before the session’s end, leaving the future of the reparations effort uncertain.
Earlier in the week, a bill focusing on land restitution, a key component of the package, passed unanimously with a 56-0 vote. The fate of this bill, however, remains unclear without the other two supporting measures—one proposing the creation of a reparations fund and the other establishing an agency to determine eligibility and manage the reparations process.
According to sources quoted by the Sacramento Bee, Governor Gavin Newsom’s administration suggested modifications, including dropping the proposed implementing agency and instead allocating $6 million to university researchers to study reparations and develop eligibility criteria. Senator Bradford, a Democrat, expressed disappointment with these proposed changes, stating they would have “removed the substance of what we were trying to do,” and noted that the administration cited “fiscal concerns” as the reason for the alterations.
Governor Newsom, who has generally supported reparations initiatives, previously allocated $12 million in July for related efforts. However, a government analysis estimated that the agency proposed by Bradford would cost between $3 million and $5 million, raising concerns over its financial feasibility.
The governor’s office declined to comment on the matter.
The proposed agency was intended to implement the recommendations of the California Reparations Task Force, which spent two years examining the state’s involvement in slavery and its enduring impacts, including racial violence, disenfranchisement, and exclusionary laws. The task force’s report revealed that between 500 and 1,500 enslaved African Americans lived in California during the Gold Rush era of the 1840s and 1850s, despite the state’s official stance against slavery.
Kamilah Moore, a lawyer and former chair of the task force, expressed disappointment over the legislative setback, noting that “everyone assumed the bills were going to be brought to vote,” but internal divisions ultimately stalled progress.
While the broader reparations package faced significant obstacles, the legislature did succeed in passing eight other bills related to reparations, presented by the Black Caucus. These bills include measures aimed at combating discrimination based on natural hairstyles and requiring grocery stores in underserved communities to notify the state if they plan to close.
Governor Newsom has until the end of the month to decide whether to sign these bills into law.