Reparations bills pass California State Senate

Sen. Steve Bradford announced three pieces of legislation related to reparations have passed through the California State Senate on May 21. “After two years of study by the California Reparations Task Force on the impact of slavery and institutional discrimination on African Americans in California, we are now taking action. These three bills are critically important for setting up the framework for reparations,” Senator Bradford said. “I appreciate my Legislative colleagues who have directly faced this important issue and shown great courage by passing these historic pieces of legislation. I look forward to working with the members of the Assembly to similarly pass these bills so we can present them to Governor Newsom for his signature.”In a statement released by Bradford’s office, the package of bills confronts the harms caused by both slavery and the discriminatory actions by state and local governments and establishes a way for people who lost property for racially motivated reasons to receive restitution.SB 1403 is the foundation that would create the California American Freedmen Affairs Agency to administer all future reparations.SB 1331 would establish an account in the state treasury for the purpose of funding reparations policies approved by the Legislature and the Governor.SB 1050...