Key California reparations bills clear major hurdle, head for full floor vote

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KGO) — Four key reparations bills passed out of committees on Thursday and are headed for full floor votes in the coming weeks. The bills are part of an effort to begin correcting the harms of slavery and decades of discrimination carried out by the State of California.

SB 1403, SB 1050, and SB 1331, previously passed by the California Senate, made it out of the Assembly appropriations committee on Thursday.

Senate Bill 1403 would create the California Freedmen Affairs Agency. This agency would oversee and administer any reparations measures passed by the legislature.

SB 1050 would require the California Freedmen Affairs Agency to compensate families who have had their property taken from them in racially-motivated applications of eminent domain.

MORE: CA Senate passes 3 bills that would create reparations agency, funding

SB 1331 would establish the Fund for Reparations and Reparative Justice in the State Treasury in order to fund policies approved by the legislature to address harms faced by Black Californians caused by the state.

“We know it’s important and I hope it send a message not just to California, but to the rest of the nation that this is a priority. Not only is California watching, the nation is watching,” said Senator Steven Bradford who authored those bills.

Bradford was one of the nine members on California’s first-in-the-nation state-level reparations task force.

Last summer, the task force released more than 100 recommendations to make California’s Black population whole and repair decades of harm.

MORE: State Assembly approves bill to formally apologize to Black Californians for discriminatory policies

The fourth bill, AB 3089, previously passed by the Assembly would issue a formal apology to Black Californians for human rights violations and crimes against humanity on African slaves and their descendants.

This bill cleared the Senate appropriations committee on Thursday.

If these bills pass, they would then go to Governor Newsom to sign or veto by Sept. 15.

If the budget is any indication, it looks like the Governor would sign the bills. He carved out $12 million for reparations in the state budget in this tight budget year.

It’s unclear, however, how that money will be spent.