(FixThisNation.com) – On Tuesday, California’s State Senate passed three reparation bills, advancing a broader legislative effort to supply the descendants of slaves with restitution.
According to reports by ABC7, this week’s bills are part of over a dozen reparation bills that have been proposed by the California Legislative Black Caucus.
The bills are designed to “issue an apology to Black Californians” for the state’s role in initiating slavery laws and “discriminatory practices” since it was founded. The bills will be sent to the California State Assembly, which will vote on them soon.
In January, California introduced a package of reparation bills that would compensate descendants of slaves with property or cash payouts.
The assembly rejected previous bills for reparation, one that would provide the descendants of slaves homeownership aid and another bill that would offer the descendants of slaves property tax relief.
However, Bill SB 1403 passed in the state senate this week and deals with creating a California Freedmen Affairs Agency.
The agency’s purpose would be to determine if a recipient of any reparations is indeed eligible.
To be eligible for any potential reparations, a person would either need to be descended from U.S. slaves or the descendent of a free Black person residing in the U.S. before the 19th century ended.
The state senate also passed SB 1050, which mandates the California Freedmen Affairs Agency to pay families who had properties in the state seized from them because of their race. SB 1331 — another bill that passed California’s state senate — would allocate funds to policies for reparation policies that the Governor signs into law.
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