California lawmakers pass groundbreaking bill to redress racism, but hold off on appropriating funding to take action

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California lawmakers this week passed some of the most ambitious legislation in the country aimed at repairing a legacy of racist policies that have created inequality for black people in everything from housing to education to health care.

Neither bill would provide universal direct payments to African Americans. Instead, the state legislature approved proposals that would allow land restitution or compensation to families whose property was unjustly seized by the government and issued a formal apology for laws and practices that harmed blacks.

But lawmakers have passed over two bills that would create a fund and an agency to implement the money, seen as key components of the effort to take action. California Legislative Black Caucus Chairwoman Lori Wilson said Saturday that the Black Caucus had withdrawn the bills, adding that the proposals still needed work.

“We knew from the very beginning that this was going to be a tough fight. … And we also knew from the very beginning that this was going to be a multi-year effort,” Wilson told reporters.

Senator Steven Bradford, who authored the measures, said the bills were not passed out of fear that Gov. Gavin Newsom would veto them.

“We are at the finish line and we, as the Black Caucus, owe it to the descendants of slaves, to black Californians and black Americans to move this legislation forward,” Bradford said, urging his colleague to reconsider Saturday afternoon.

The Democratic governor has not weighed in on most of the bills, but he signed a $297.9 billion budget in June that included up to $12 million for reparations legislation. But the budget did not specify what the money would be spent on, and his administration has signaled opposition to some of them. Newsom has until Sept. 30 to decide whether to sign the bills into law.

Democratic Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, who is black, has called his bill to issue a formal apology for discrimination a “labor of love.” His uncle was among a group of black students who were escorted by federal troops past angry white mobs into Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., in the 1950s, three years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that school segregation was unconstitutional. The students became known as the “Little Rock Nine.”

“I think my grandmother, my grandfather, would be incredibly proud of what we’re going to do today,” Jones-Sawyer said before the vote on the legislation passed. “Because that’s why they fought in 1957, so that I could — and we could — move our people forward.”

Newsom approved legislation in 2020 to create the nation’s first task force to study reparations proposals. New York and Illinois have since followed suit with similar legislation. The California group released a final report last year with more than 100 recommendations for lawmakers.

Newsom signed legislation last month requiring school districts that receive state funding for career education programs to collect data on the performance of participating students by race and gender. The bill, part of a reparations package backed by the California Legislative Black Caucus, aims to help address gaps in student achievement.

The state Senate has overwhelmingly approved a bill to return land or compensate families whose property was unfairly taken through racial discrimination using the law of eminent domain.

The topic gained renewed attention in California when, in 2022, Los Angeles officials returned a black couple’s beachfront property that was taken from their ancestors decades ago.

The Newsome administration’s Department of Finance opposes the bill. The agency says the cost of implementing it is unknown but could “range from hundreds of thousands of dollars to several million dollars per year, depending on the workload required to receive, review, and investigate applications.”

It’s not immediately clear how the initiative would be implemented, even if Newsom signs it into law after lawmakers withdrew an initiative to create an agency to implement it. The proposal would create a genealogy office to help black Californians research their family lines and verify their eligibility for any reparations that become law.

California would take responsibility and formally apologize for its role in perpetuating segregation, economic inequality and discrimination against black Americans under another bill approved by the Legislature.

The regulations require the Secretary of State to send a final copy of the apology to the National Archives, where it can be viewed by the public.

The apology said the state “reaffirms its role in protecting the descendants of slaves and all black residents of California, as well as their civil, political and sociocultural rights.”

Two rejected bills would have established an agency that would be responsible for implementing reparations programs if passed in California.

According to the California Government Operations Agency, the costs of operating a reparations agency could range from $3 million to $5 million per year.

Another proposal would create a fund for reparations programs, which would become law in California. The money would be used to address state policies that harmed Californians descended from enslaved blacks or free blacks living in the U.S. before the late 19th century.

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Associated Press writer Trân Nguyễn contributed to this article.

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Austin is a corps member of 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 underreported issues. Follow Austin on X: @sophieadanna