California Lawmakers Agree On $12M Reparations Budget
Gov. Gavin Newsom and fellow Democratic leaders announced the budget—$12 million—set aside to support reparations-related bills on the docket to pass in 2024.
Legislators announced the impressive new budget on June 22 with some of the specifics that go along with it. Allotted money will support several proposals–15 in total–drafted by the Legislative Black Caucus, such as having the Golden State issue an apology for the pain and suffering inflicted on Black Californians during slavery.
Assemblywoman Lori Wilson called the move “a win” because, in addition to the bills, the budget will support two constitutional amendments, including one that has yet to be drafted. “Even in a challenging deficit year, we’ve had our leadership and the governor recognize the obligation to those impacted by slavery,” Wilson said.
The approval was exactly what Black lawmakers hoped for after a yearlong battle following task force study results examining how lawmakers could enact reparations. However, not all residents are on board with the idea. In September 2023, a poll from the University of California, Berkeley revealed several residents were against Black residents receiving any form of reparations, including cash payments.
Fifty-nine percent of participants rejected the cash payments idea, 76% of Black respondents were in favor, and 66% of white voters opposed the idea.
While many Californians appear to be looking forward to the measure, which is the first of its kind at the state level, lawmakers are scheduled to take a statewide tour to discuss the study, the next steps, and what residents think.
California Democrats started the conversation, and other state leaders are considering similar moves. In December 2023, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul signed a bill that would create a reparations commission to study the state’s history of slavery and racism.
Some of the other proposed bills align with creating the California American Freedmen Affairs Agency, created by Sen. Steven Bradford. The new department will prevent the state from punishing prison inmates who refuse to work and curate a grant program that funds community efforts to limit crime in neighborhoods and schools. Under Bradford’s leadership, the agency will also investigate racially motivated eminent domain cases, which grants the government the power to take private property and convert it into public.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Bradford has been working with descendants of California residents who have lost out on financial gains from properties they were forced to sell. “There are multiple examples of African American families who were forced off their land for no other reason than they didn’t want them there anymore,” Bradford said.
“And now their homes have been replaced with freeways or parking lots, or as in Manhattan Beach, an alleged park that was 40 years before it even came into development.”
Bradford’s reparations legislation would also determine how valid claims are brought up by families who feel their property was unjustly seized. The Office of Legal Affairs would take on cases to present potential remedies for offenders of eminent domain, such as having the property returned or monetary payments.
All bills are expected to pass by the end of the legislative session on Aug. 31.
