As the 2024 legislative session begins, members of the California Legislative Black Caucus are working to put recommendations from the state’s Reparations Task Force into law as officials deal with a newly projected $37.9 billion budget deficit.
Democratic Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer told Politico that legislation is in the works, but he acknowledged cash payouts could be tricky to navigate because the state faces a $37.9 billion budget gap in fiscal 2025.
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) presented his initial spending plan on Wednesday, predicting a near $38 billion deficit — a significantly lower estimate than the $68 billion deficit the Legislative Analyst’s Office estimated in December.
Newsom declined to endorse reparations recommendations provided by the state task force in an earlier draft in May, which could be up to $1.2 million for a single recipient, telling Fox News that the matter of slavery is about more than cash reparations.
“Many of the recommendations put forward by the Task Force are critical action items we’ve already been hard at work addressing: breaking down barriers to vote, bolstering resources to address hate, enacting sweeping law enforcement and justice reforms to build trust and safety, strengthening economic mobility — all while investing billions to root out disparities and improve equity in housing, education, healthcare, and well beyond,” California’s governor said.
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California became the first state to form a reparations task force in 2020, issuing a landmark report proposing methods for calculating reparations in June 2023. Experts have predicted black residents could receive millions in reparations based on the California Reparations Task Force’s 1,080-page report.
State Sen. Steven Bradford, one of the nine members on the panel, introduced legislation in August that would form a state agency to handle reparations. That bill could be voted on soon.