It’s official: California lawmakers will consider reparations this spring.

Andrew Sheeler
·3 min read
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Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

REPARATIONS PACKAGE COMES TO SACRAMENTO

The California Legislative Black Caucus on Wednesday unveiled a legislative package intended to implement reparations for Black Californians who were harmed by racist laws and policies in the state.

The package includes a resolution to formally recognize and accept responsibility “for all the harms and atrocities committed by representatives of the state who promoted,facilitated, enforced and permitted the institution of chattel slavery.”

It also includes bills to expand education opportunities and financial aid, restore property taken in race-based eminent domain cases, issue a formal apology for human rights violations and crimes against humanity on African slaves, bar the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from banning books without oversight or review, restrict the use of solitary confinement and eliminate barriers to licensure by people with criminal records.

Also included in the package are proposed constitutional amendments to fund programs aimed at increasing the life expectancy and educational outcomes of Black Californians and other groups and ban prison inmate forced labor.

It’s an ambitious package, and one that is likely to run into some pushback from California Gov. Gavin Newsom for either policy, budget or political reasons. Newsom has previously has vetoed attempts to curb the use of solitary confinement.

But it follows the recommendations of the state’s reparations task force, and caucus Chair Lori Wilson, D-Suisun City, said in a statement that “while many only associate direct cash payments with reparations, the true meaning of the word, to repair, involves much more.”

“As laid out in the report, we need a comprehensive approach to dismantling the legacy of slavery and systemic racism,” Wilson said.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who as an assemblywoman in 2020 authored the legislation that created the reparations task force, said she was pleased to see the caucus “pick up the baton.”

“The nation is waiting for us to lead,” Weber said in a statement. “And as California always does, we will lead in addressing a delayed justice called reparations.”

BLUE ENVELOPE BILL SEEKS TO REDUCE DANGER FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES

People with special needs and developmental disabilities are at heightened risk during interactions with police officers. One Republican lawmaker, Assemblywoman Kate Sanchez of Rancho Santa Margarita, has introduced a bill, AB 2002, to reduce that risk.

The bill would create a state program where participants could inform police of their special needs by presenting a blue envelope containing their license and registration and discussing specific accommodations they require during an interaction.

“These blue envelopes have successfully been used in multiple counties and other states to improve accessibility and communication between law enforcement and individuals with disabilities,” Sanchez said in a statement.

According to 2022 data from the Racial and Identity Profiling Advisory Board, police were more than five times more likely to use force against people with mental health disabilities and more than three times more likely to do so with people who have other disabilities.

The bill is sponsored by Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and San Diego County Sheriff Kelly Martinez, whose own departments have already adopted a similar program.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I’m sorry for everything you have all been through. No one should go through the things that your families have suffered.”

- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, addressing families of victims of abuse on Meta’s platforms during a congressional hearing Wednesday.

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