First-in-the-nation reparations bills are headed to Newsom’s desk, but not without some tension

It’s a hot morning on the Capitol lawn just days after the end of the legislative session, and several advocacy groups that represent people who have been incarcerated are kicking off their next big push: A campaign for a November ballot measure. 

“Slavery is inconsistent with California values,” Carmen-Nicole Cox with the ACLU California Action said to the crowd from a podium. “And even still, slavery is alive and well in detention and penal facilities across our great state.”

She was speaking at a rally in favor of Proposition 6, which would end forced labor in state prisons. It was part of a successful suite of reparations bills. 

Two failed bills that would’ve helped advance the state’s reparations plan are also grabbing attention, and Cox said voters are watching. 

“We absolutely vote people in because we believe that they are going to advance certain policy, and then when they show us that they won't, we get to vote again,” she said.

California might soon make some of the first steps in the country towards reparations for descendants of enslaved persons. Lawmakers know the stakes are high for their own state and the nation, but not everyone agrees on how to get there. 

The state responded to protests and calls for racial justice in 2020 with a reparations task force. Last year, that group came back with an over 1,000-page report.

California’s reparations task force explained

Secretary of State Shirley Weber initiated that work. She told reporters when the report came out that she believes California could make moves that other states — and even the federal government — can’t. 

“This effort had been tried many times at the federal level, but because of the complexity of the politics of this nation and its resistance to any kind of change or activity with regards to African Americans, it had failed many times,” she said. 

The California Legislative Black Caucus released a list of priority bills based on the report back in January.

Assembly member Corey Jackson (D-Riverside) is a member of the Black Caucus and says he’s proud of how many of those bills succeeded. 

“For the first time in the nation, we have a series of bills going to the governor’s desk that provides reparations for African Americans,” he said.

Eight of the 14 bills passed. One calls for the state to make an official apology for its role in slavery. Another mandates it investigate claims of stolen property via eminent domain.

The bills touch on a lot of things, including education, health and criminal justice. Jackson said that might not be what people expect — the package doesn’t include direct cash payments. But it is in line with the steps the task force laid out. Those are based on a United Nations legal framework and research on several reparations efforts from around the world.

“The first one is to acknowledge that a harm has been done. The second is to apologize for that harm,” he said. 

He says these bills put those ideas in motion, and that’s a big win. But there is tension in what passed and what didn’t. 

Two bills that were introduced later failed at the last minute. One, Senate Bill 1403, would have established a new government department to carry out reparations laws and another, Senate Bill 1331, would create a reparations fund, but not with money from the state.

Jackson said that although those steps are in the report, the caucus wanted to move more gradually.

State Senator Steven Bradford (D-Gardena) is also a member of the Black Caucus and one of two lawmakers who served on the task force. He sponsored both bills.

“I think they were critically important to the overall movement of reparations and being able to do something concrete right now,” he said. 

The bills enjoyed broad support in votes on the state senate and assembly floors. The entire Black Caucus even co-sponsored one — SB 1403. But both were pulled on the last night of the legislative session. 

Caucus members have given various explanations as to why. Caucus Chair Lori Wilson told reporters that evening that the bills weren’t ready, and added that the funding for them, especially the new department, wasn’t there, considering it’s a tight year for the state budget. 

Bradford said Governor Gavin Newsom’s office approached the caucus with amendments to SB 1403 in the last week of the session. The governor’s team refused to comment on the bills or confirm that it had suggested any changes. 

A few dozen protestors, largely from reparations advocacy groups, gathered to protest in the rotunda of the Capitol as the bills were scrapped. Their voices carried to the Assembly floor throughout the night, though they were not allowed into the gallery. 

Protesters gather on the final day of California's 2024 legislative session.Megan Myscofski/CapRadio