Lawmakers in cash-strapped Maryland are nearing approval of a broad reparations payment program that would not only cover residents whose ancestors were slaves but also those “impacted by certain inequitable government policies.”
A bill to set up a commission to study reparations is expected to pass in the House of Delegates after receiving preliminary agreement this week and passing the Senate in February.
The reparations bill has been a priority this session for the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland. State Senator C. Anthony Muse, the bill’s sponsor, wrote in a recent commentary that, “The need for reparations is not a radical notion; it is a moral imperative.”
The bill says applicants would have to provide evidence they are descended from slaves but does not stipulate what evidence is required. It also promises cash payoffs but the amounts of payouts wouldn’t be determined until a later date.
Where the money for those payments would come from is still a mystery.
The legislation sets a January 1, 2027 deadline for the commission to release a preliminary report and deliver a final report by November 1, 2027.
Senate Minority Whip Justin Ready told WBFF-TV the legislation is a mistake with the state facing a historic $3.3 billion budget deficit. “We don’t have the money right now to be exploring these options, period,” Mr. Ready said. “It’s just something that’s not financially feasible, whether you think it’s a good idea or not.”
Maryland’s governor, Wes Moore, has not publicly announced whether he would sign the bill if it hits his desk. The New York Sun has asked his office for comment on the legislation but had not heard back at time of publication.
Similar reparations commissions have been established in California, Colorado, Massachusetts, New York, and Illinois.
A New York state commission studying possible reparations says it will miss a deadline to complete its report and is asking for about $5 million more in funding to continue work.
In June 2023, a reparations task force in California released a report with 115 recommendations as to how the state — which never legally allowed slavery — could compensate descendants of slaves.
Los Angeles has its own reparations commission. It released a 386-page report in February stating that the city had “direct involvement and complicity” in the marginalization and disenfranchisement of African Americans. It recommended that funding models be studied to address the lasting impact of “racial terror” on Black residents, and city funding should be dedicated to make payments.
The first reparations program in the country to make payments has paused after running into funding issues. The six-year-old program in Evanston, Illinois has not brought in as much money as expected from a 3 percent sales tax on recreational marijuana sales.