Lisa Holder, an ARRT leader, former task force member and president of the Equal Justice Society, said the bill reflects the power of broad coalitions.
“We’re proud to have played a critical role in the passage of this bill,” she said. “Amid deep divisions, our coalition is advancing a cross-racial alliance that places reparations at the heart of a shared vision for a resilient, multicultural democracy. Truth-telling and collective healing are essential steps toward reconciliation.”
California’s current reparations proposals stem from recommendations made by the state’s Reparations Task Force in a 2023 report. That 1,100-page document detailed how California lawmakers and institutions advanced the cause of slavery in the state’s early days and discriminated against Black residents in the decades that followed. The task force was created in 2020 when Newsom signed Assembly Bill 3121, following a wave of national activism after the murder of George Floyd.
Since then, Newsom’s enthusiasm for the task force’s full slate of recommendations has cooled. While he has supported symbolic measures, like a formal state apology for slavery and systemic racism, he has resisted the idea of providing cash payments to eligible descendants, arguing that reparations must involve more than direct checks.
Last year’s legislative session ended in frustration for many advocates after disagreements within the Black Caucus and late amendments requested by Newsom derailed a proposal to create a similar agency. The governor later vetoed a bill to compensate victims of racially motivated property seizures, saying there was no state entity to manage such a program.
Those setbacks galvanized activists. At the close of the 2024 session, more than 8,500 letters were delivered to Newsom urging him to support a slate of reparations bills. The caucus responded this year with its “Road to Repair” agenda — a rebranded package of measures that avoided the politically charged term “reparations.”
For now, advocates say California’s new agency represents a foundation — not a finish line. Its future depends on funding, legislation and political will. Still, for the first time, the state has a structure in place to make good on its promises. As Holder put it, “We cannot move forward as one human family until we confront the harm, acknowledge the debt and take tangible action to repair what has been done.”
KQED’s Otis R. Taylor Jr. contributed to this report.
