California budgets up to $12 million for reparations bills, a milestone in atoning for racist legacy
SACRAMENTO, California — California plans to spend up to $12 million on legislation on reparations under a budget signed by the Democratic governor. Gavin Newsoma milestone in the state’s efforts to repair California’s legacy of racism and discrimination against black residents.
The financing of the reparations in the Budget of $297.9 billion Newsom did not sign off on which programs the money would go to over the weekend. Lawmakers are not considering large-scale direct payments to Black Californians this year.
The state legislature weighs proposals to formally apologize for the role California has played in perpetuating discrimination against black residents, to establish an agency to administer reparations programs, and to identify families whose property has been wrongfully seized through the right of foreclosure.
The funding comes after federal reparations have been stalled for decades.
“We often say that the budget is a reflection of our values and priorities, so the fact that there is money for reparations should be a reason to celebrate,” said Sen. Steven Bradford, a Los Angeles-area Democrat, who noted that he had hoped the allocation would have been larger.
No state has progressed further in considering reparations for black residents than California, but some states have taken significant steps. Illinois and New York has passed laws in recent years to study reparations for African Americans. Florida passed a law in the 1990s that scholarship fund for colleges for the descendants of black residents who were murdered in 1923 in a massacre committed by a white mob.
However, some opponents of the reparations proposals being considered by California lawmakers argue that taxpayers should not have to pay to change long-ago policies and practices.
“Slavery was a stain on our country’s history, but I don’t believe it’s fair to try to right the wrongs of the past at the expense of people today who did nothing wrong,” Republican Assemblyman James Gallagher said in a statement. “More than a quarter of Californians are immigrants — how can we look at those people, who are struggling, and say it’s up to them to make amends for something that happened more than 150 years ago?”
Senate Majority Leader Mike McGuire, a Democrat, said at a meeting Monday that “$12 billion is not nearly enough,” but that lawmakers have worked closely to secure the money during a heavy budget year.
Bradford made proposals to provide property taxes and housing assistance to descendants of enslaved black people, but they were blocked in May by an important committee.
Kamilah Moore, who chaired the state reparations task force, was disappointed that lawmakers this year also failed to introduce legislation to provide free public university tuition to descendants of enslaved Black people, as the group recommended in its report. final report.
But Moore said it was still “good news” to include $12 million for reparations as a starting point in the budget.
“It means that they are taking responsibility and acknowledging the harm and the cruelty that this particular population has suffered,” she said. “That is a huge step that cannot be overlooked.”
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Associated Press editor Tran Nguyen contributed to this report.
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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 under-covered issues. Follow Austin on X: @sophieadanna