Slavery reparations gets real in California

Jun 30, 2023

By Lara Korte, Jeremy B. White and Sejal Govindarao

Presented by CCIA

THE BUZZ: NOW WHAT? — The road to reparations is running straight into a swamp of indecision.

After months of hearings, expert analyses and passionate pleas, California lawmakers now must decide how to compensate the descendants of slaves. The state’s Reparations Task Force completed its mandate yesterday, capping off two years of discussions with a 1,075-page report that outlines the widespread impacts of enslavement in California and offers more than a dozen ways lawmakers can ease the burden on descendants — including a formal apology and recommended methods for calculating financial compensation.

“This work must not be in vain,” said San Diego City Councilmember Monica Montgomery Steppe, one of nine task force members. “We are not asking for performative justice.”

This report brings California significantly closer to being the first state in the nation to enact reparations, but also highlights the profound difficulty of being a trailblazer. In recent months, as the task force wrapped up its work, lawmakers, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, poured cold water on the biggest-ticket item — cash payments.

Newsom, who is known to spend hours a day reading conservative news outlets and recently spent a week in the South learning about slavery and Jim Crow-era oppression, insisted on Thursday that he has yet to read the report, and hedged on questions about cash payments.

“I’ve been pretty consistent in my public comments,” he told reporters. “I am very mindful of our past.”

Both Newsom and legislators have been vague on specific policies. The closest we’ve gotten so far is a report from the LA Times’ Erika D. Smith, who wrote yesterday about Sen. Steven Bradford’s idea to give the state’s closed prison property to Black people as part of the repayments. Bradford suggested the idea caught the interest of the administration.

At the final hearing on Thursday, Bradford was blunt about the challenge ahead, saying it’s way too early to know what bills will look like or who will carry them.

Much of the work will likely happen next year, Bradford added, saying “it's too much to unpack right now to think you're gonna get it done between now and September this year.”

“I just think it's going to require some real massaging and networking and working our colleagues to first get them to read the report as stated, accept what's there, and then being willing to address it through impactful legislation,” he said.

“It’s going to be a tough task.”

BUENOS DÍAS, good Friday morning. Assemblymember Robert Rivas becomes speaker in a matter of hours. Do you have predictions for his tenure, or tips on committee appointments? Drop us a line with your thoughts below.

PROGRAMMING NOTE: We’ll be off this Monday and Tuesday for the Fourth of July but will be back in your inboxes on Wednesday.

Got a tip or story idea for California Playbook? Hit us up: jwhite@politico.com and lkorte@politico.com or follow us on Twitter @JeremyBWhite and @Lara_Korte.

WHERE’S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “We have plenty of laws on the books. I’d like to see us enforce the existing laws and then we can talk about new laws.” Newsom on whether he wants the Legislature to send him stricter criminal penalties on fentanyl.

A message from CCIA:

A link tax is the last thing California needs. Oppose AB886.

TOP TALKERS

SCOOP: TRADING MEREDITH — For the second time in two years, the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California will have a new leader: Andrew Meredith is stepping aside and will be succeeded by OC/LA trades official Chris Hannan. This comes relatively soon after Meredith took over from the legendary Robbie Hunter, back in early 2022. The Trades are one of Sacramento's most influential labor groups, but they have been crosswise with some Democrats in recent years as they've fought bills to accelerate housing production and phase out fossil fuels, arguing they undercut good union jobs.

MEAN STREETS — New numbers from the Greater Los Angeles Homelessness Count show a 9 percent annual increase in unhoused residents in the county and 10 percent increase in the city, underlining the ongoing difficulties of sheltering people in the nation’s second-most populous city.

Dealing with homelessness was a primary plank of Mayor Karen Bass’ election platform. In her six months in office, the Inside Safe program has moved more than 14,000 people into shelters, her office said. But the new stats, which were collected in January and released Thursday, represent a vast challenge.

“We will continue to work with urgency to bring Angelenos inside but also to protect Angelenos from falling into homelessness,” Bass said in a statement. “If we don’t do both, we will continue this cycle.”

ONCE A MAYOR… — "Exclusive: Gavin Newsom doubles state police in San Francisco fentanyl crackdown," by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Sophia Bollag: “Gov. Gavin Newsom will double the number of state police officers helping crack down on fentanyl dealing in San Francisco, he told The Chronicle on Wednesday.”

— "California Assembly Speaker Rendon: The exit interview," by Cal Matters’ Lynn La: “As of Friday, Anthony Rendon will no longer be the speaker of the California Assembly — the culmination of a messy and protracted handover of power to Democratic Assemblymember Robert Rivas from Salinas.”

PLAYBOOK MEET & GREET! Join POLITICO in welcoming our new Playbook Author, Dustin Gardiner, at Cafeteria 15L on Wednesday, July 12, 2023. We're convening our most influential readers in Sacramento and beyond as we expand our footprint across the Golden State. Swing by and have a cocktail on us—you never know who you might run into! Register here.

CAMPAIGN MODE

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: KASH FOR KOUNALAKIS — Just over two months since jumping into the race for governor, Democratic Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis has raised $2.3 million, bringing her 2026 total to $6.7 million. Kounalakis, one of several candidates expected to vie for the state’s top office, also has been rolling out endorsements from the likes of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and retired U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, along with members of Congress and the state Legislature.

CALIFORNIA AND THE CAPITOL CORRIDOR

— "California’s affirmative action ban offers ‘a grim warning’ for what’s next," by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Bob Egelko: “Since California voters banned affirmative action at public universities in 1996, school officials have fought to preserve on-campus diversity in an increasingly diverse state — opening their doors to top students at all high schools, considering students' life experience as well as their grades and test scores, recruiting more students in low-income areas and ending the use of standardized exams to judge applicants.”

— "California is the first state to tackle reparations for Black residents. What that really means," by Cal Matters’ Wendy Fry, Erica Yee and Rya Jetha: “Will reparations for Black residents in California become a reality? If not, are they likely to happen anywhere else in the United States?”

— "California’s reparations proposal moves to Newsom, state lawmakers," by the Los Angeles Times’ Taryn Luna: “After two years of deliberations, California’s Reparations Task Force on Thursday sent its final report and recommendations to the state Capitol, where Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers will ultimately decide how the state should atone for slavery.”

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BIDEN, HARRIS AND THE HILL

— "Affirmative action rulings will reshape diversity push at Stanford and other California private colleges," by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Nanette Asimov: “When a Black graduate student at MIT realized that facial recognition software consistently identified the gender only of her lighter-skinned colleagues, she partnered with a Stanford graduate student, also Black, to investigate. Their breakthrough 2018 study revealed that such software was 35% less likely to recognize Black women than white men, alerting the world to the emerging technology’s built-in bias.”

— "Can Colleges Be Racially Diverse Without Affirmative Action? Experience Suggests No," by the Wall Street Journal’s Melissa Korn: “The Supreme Court says American colleges can no longer consider race in their admissions decisions. Instead, they can try to build racially diverse campuses through less-direct means. Experience suggests that is going to be a hard slog.”

— "Dianne Feinstein, still recovering, is skipping a California visit during Senate break," by the Los Angeles Times’ Owen Tucker-Smith: “Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who is recovering from a serious shingles infection, is spending the Senate’s two-week Fourth of July recess in Washington.”

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MIXTAPE

— "This nun defends migrants. She says both Texas and California used them as pawns," by the Los Angeles Times’ Jack Herrera

— "Yosemite finalizes controversial rules for climbing El Capitan, Half Dome," by the San Francisco Chronicle’s Gregory Thomas

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A message from CCIA:

Lawmakers are proposing a bill that would charge websites every time they link to a news article. A new tax is the last thing CA needs. Oppose AB886.