Reparations Roundup: February 2025
California Reparations Legislation Is Back
Reparations advocates in the California State Legislature introduced and amended several bills to benefit descendants of enslaved persons. Efforts to implement reparations legislation during the last legislative session largely fell short, particularly with attempts to establish a new Freedmen Affairs Agency to implement reparations policies and funding for those policies. Legislators have renewed their efforts with new proposals along with some rehashed from last year.
AB 7 – Admission Preferences for Descendants – California universities would be able to consider giving a preference in admissions to applicants who are descendants of slaves.This may run afoul of California’s Prop 209, which prohibits the State from granting preferential treatment to individuals on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, and national origin.
AB 57 – Home Purchase Assistance Program – Ten percent of funds for the State’s home purchase assistance program would be made available to applicants who meet the requirements for a loan under the program and are descendants of formerly enslaved persons.
AB 62 – Compensation for Racially Motivated Eminent Domain – Establishes a process for reviewing, investigating, and recommending compensation of claims for property taken by eminent domain or uncompensated due to the owners’ race. The governor vetoed a version of this bill last year because another bill establishing the Freedmen Affairs Agency that would have reviewed claims did not make it out of the legislature.
AB 335 – Designation of California Black-Serving Institutions Grant Program – One of the bills that made it through last year was SB 1348, which designates colleges that establish certain admissions and retention goals for black students as black-serving institutions. Since its enactment, many colleges quickly expressed their intent to obtain the designation. This bill will assist those colleges by providing grants for underserved black and African American students and other underserved students.
AB 742 – License Priority for Descendants – Licensing boards under the Department of Consumer Affairs would prioritize license applicants who are descendants of enslaved persons. This bill resembles the failed AB 2862 from the last session, which would have prioritized African American license applicants, particularly descendants of enslaved persons. The current iteration limits priority specifically to descendants.
AB 1315 – Establishing the California American Freedmen Affairs Agency – This new agency would verify that residents are descended from American Freedmen and create a database of such individuals. This agency failed to materialize during the last session when the Assembly refrained from enacting the bill for a vote. Notably, an Assemblymember who opposes taxpayer-funded reparations introduced this bill.
SB 437 – Descendant Genealogy and Descendancy – The State would allocate $6 million to the California State University to conduct research in furtherance of the Reparations Task Force recommendations. This would include exploring ways to confirm that an individual is a descendant of an enslaved person.
SB 518 – Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery – This agency would also determine how to confirm descendants of enslaved persons.
Los Angeles Reporting In
The City of Los Angeles’ Reparations Advisory Commission released a 386-page report that included its recommendations for reparations. Among the Commission’s suggestions: (1) “City funding should be dedicated to atone for the [] life outcomes” resulting from historic discrimination; (2) the City should defund the LAPD and eliminate university campus police; and (3) the City should fund compensation for Black Angelenos (e.g., tax breaks, debt forgiveness, or direct payments).
Tulsa’s Broad Recommendations
A City of Tulsa Commission – the “Beyond Apology” Commission – has proposed a $24 million reparations plan. This plan would give funding to the survivors of the Tulsa Massacre but also to any African American citizen in North Tulsa who has been negatively affected by anything related to race, including “depressed property values.” Tulsa’s mayor has expressed approval for the plan.
More Time for Motor City
Detroit’s Reparations Task Force is asking for another extension of time to get their recommendations in. The Task Force was originally set to release recommendations last November but asked the City to extend their deadline to March. They are now asking to have until June to report. The additional time appears needed for “carefully crafting the language to avoid legal challenges that have opposed reparations efforts in other parts of the country.” But one task force member seems resigned to facing a lawsuit, stating, “No matter what we do, they’re going to send us to court.”
Carrying On the Reparations Push in Congress
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts introduced a reparations bill on February 14. H.R. 40 would establish a commission to study and address racial disparities, likely through race-conscious policies or payouts. The commission itself would cost the taxpayers $20 million, and potential reparations payments would likely use tens of billions of taxpayer funds. Rep. Pressley continues the late Rep. John Conyers’ efforts to push H.R. 40, which he first introduced in 1989 and continued to revive each year thereafter until his retirement. The late Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee then began sponsoring the bill.
