By Antonio Ray Harvey
Contributing Writer
SACRAMENTO — Gov. Gavin Newsom signed several bills included in a priority reparations package introduced by the California Legislative Black Caucus this year, including Assembly Bill 3089, which formally apologizes to Black Californians for the harms caused by slavery, discrimination and other historical injustices.
However, some advocates say they do not consider that legislation reparations.
Newsom signed the bills into law before members of the Legislative Black Caucus in the State Capitol Annex Swing Spaces’ press room Sept. 26. The bills address issues such as housing disparities, maternal health, economic inequality and educational access — issues that have long disproportionately impacted Black Californians.
“Today’s bill signing represents a promise for the future based on years of hard work and dedication from the CLBC and our allies,” said Assemblywoman Lori Wilson, D-Suisun City, who chaired the Legislative Black Caucus this year. “Together with Gov. Newsom, we are sending a powerful message that California is leading the way in repairing the harm done to Black communities. Today marks a victory, but only the first in the continued fight for justice.”
AB 3089 passed the Legislature with unanimous bipartisan support. It acknowledges California’s historical role in the perpetuation of slavery and its enduring legacy.
“The state of California accepts responsibility for the role we played in promoting, facilitating and permitting the institution of slavery, as well as its enduring legacy of persistent racial disparities,” Newsom said. “Building on decades of work, California is now taking another important step forward in recognizing the grave injustices of the past — and making amends for the harms caused.”
A statement issued by Newsom said the “signing event marks a significant milestone in California’s ongoing efforts to promote healing and advance justice.”
“As we confront the lasting legacy of slavery, I’m profoundly grateful for the efforts put forward by Chair Assemblymember Lori D. Wilson and the members of the California Legislative Black Caucus,” Newsom said. “The state of California accepts responsibility for the role we played in promoting, facilitating and permitting the institution of slavery, as well as its enduring legacy of persistent racial disparities.”
Authored by Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, AB 3089 also requires the state to install a plaque memorializing the apology in the State Capitol.
Additionally, the bill imposes different duties on the Department of General Services and the Joint Rules Committee relating to the installation and maintenance of the plaque. Both entities will receive money from grants and private donations to finance the upkeep of the plaque.
“Healing can only begin with an apology,” Jones-Sawyer said in a statement. “The state of California acknowledges its past actions and is taking this bold step to correct them, recognizing its role in hindering the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness for Black individuals through racially motivated punitive laws.”
The Coalition for a Just and Equitable California — a statewide grassroots advocates, organizers and mobilizers for reparations and reparative justice — said it members do not recognize AB 3089 as reparations.
The organization’s members posted their thoughts about the bill on the X platform formerly called Twitter Sept. 27. The coalition describes the reparations package as “racial equity bills.”
“An apology is not #Reparations, nor is it a first step toward teparations,” CJEC posted. “It’s a step backward. We don’t need any more words. We demand action. We demand reparations.”
The following bills in the package were also signed by Newsom:
• AB 3131 by Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, which provides equity multiplier funding to school districts.
• AB 1815 by Assemblywoman Akilah Weber,D-La Mesa, which prohibits discrimination based on natural and protective hairstyles.
• AB 1896 by Assemblyman Issac Bryan, D-Culver City, which eliminates banning books without oversight and review in prisons.
• And Senate Bill 1089 by state Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, D-Los Angeles, which addresses grocery stores and pharmacy closures.
Other reparations bills signed into law are SB 1348 by state Sen. Steven Bradford, D-Inglewood, which designating specific public universities as California Black-serving institutions; AB 1984 by Weber, which requires systematic review of pupils’ suspensions and expulsions data; and AB 51, by Assemblywoman Mia Bonta, D-Alameda, which supports early child care and education.
Assembly Constitutional Amendment 8 was part of the package, but it will be on the ballot as Proposition 6. The ballot measure would amend the state Constitution to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime if passed by voters.
Two reparations bills were vetoed by Newsom.
The first, Bonta’s AB 1975, would have required the Department of Health Care Services to make medically supportive food and nutrition interventions a permanent benefit under the Medi-Cal program. Newsom stated that the bill would result in important and continuous general fund costs for the program.
“I encourage the Legislature to explore this policy next year as part of the annual budget,” Newsom said Sept. 26.
Bradford’s SB 1050 was also vetoed. The bill would have addressed racially motivated eminent domain and restore property taken from its original owners or provide another effective remedy where appropriate, such as restitution or compensation.
Newsom said he did not sign SB 1050 because the bill “tasks a nonexistent state agency to carry out its various provisions and requirements.”
That “nonexistent agency,” the California African American Freedmen Affairs Agency, would have been created by SB 1403, a bill introduced by Bradford. However, the Legislature did not bring that bill up for a vote on the Assembly floor during the last legislative session.
“I thank the author for his commitment to redressing past racial injustices,” Newsom said in a Sept. 25 statement. “However, this bill tasks nonexistent state agency to carry out its various provisions and requirements, making it impossible to implement.”
California is the first state in the nation to create a reparations task force that was commissioned to study the impact of slavery and Jim Crow discrimination that followed it and the state’s role in it and the first state to issue a formal apology for slavery.
Antonio Ray Harvey is a reporter for California Black Media.
