ANNAPOLIS — The Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland said Thursday its members plan to support legislation to create a commission to study reparations, including “financial restitution” and ways to support vulnerable communities.
The announcement comes on the heels of the start of the 2025 Maryland General Assembly session. The headline of the legislative session so far has been the $3 billion budget gap lawmakers must address to prevent a financial crisis from materializing.
Given the fiscal challenges in Annapolis, it is unclear how the state would fund “financial restitution” in the form of reparations. A 2023 law required Maryland counties to reinvest cannabis tax revenue through local “Community Reinvestment and Repair” commissions. Baltimore City chose to create a charter-mandated fund for its cannabis reinvestment called the “Community Reinvestment and Reparations Fund” despite objection from its equity office.
“The commission will carefully examine and evaluate a range of reparations that will not only consider financial restitution, but will also explore strategies to support and uplift vulnerable communities that continue to suffer the lingering and invasive effects of discriminatory practices rooted in systematic racism,” Del. Aletheia McCaskill, D-Baltimore County, said Thursday.
A bill to establish a reparations commission failed last year in the general assembly. The purpose of the commission would have been to “develop and administer a program to provide compensatory benefits to the descendants of individuals enslaved in the state.”
“We will confront our shared history to move closer to building a Maryland that is truly that truly lives up to its promise of fairness and equality,” Del. McCaskill said.
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