Reparations Roundup: February 2025

California Reparations Legislation Is Back Reparations advocates in the California State Legislature introduced and amended several bills to benefit descendants of enslaved persons. Efforts to implement reparations legislation during the last legislative session largely fell short, particularly with attempts to establish a new Freedmen Affairs Agency  to implement reparations policies and funding for those policies. Legislators have renewed their efforts with new proposals along with some rehashed from last year. AB 7 – Admission Preferences for Descendants – California universities would be able to consider giving a preference in admissions to applicants who are descendants of slaves.This may run afoul of California’s Prop 209, which prohibits the State from granting preferential treatment to individuals on the basis of race, color, ethnicity, and national origin. AB 57 – Home Purchase Assistance Program – Ten percent of funds for the State’s home purchase assistance program would be made available to applicants who meet the requirements for a loan under the program and are descendants of formerly enslaved persons. AB 62 – Compensation for Racially Motivated Eminent Domain – Establishes a process for reviewing, investigating, and recommending compensation of claims for property taken by eminent domain or uncompensated due to the owners’ race....