Newsom approves CA reparations office but vetoes 5 related bills

from Kayla Michalovich and Wendy FryCalMatters

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Lawmakers and advocates are regrouping to determine how they will move forward in efforts to provide restorative justice for black Californians after Gov. Gavin Newsom this week signed — and vetoed — a list of reparations measures.

Among the key bills signed into law was one to create the Bureau of Descendants of American Slavery, which would create a reparations structure. The Democratic senator from San Diego Aquila Weber Pearson authored the legislation that creates the bureau under the California Department of Civil Rights and will include a division of genealogy, education and outreach, and legal affairs.

Newsom also approved Senate Bill 437which grants up to $6 million to the California State University system to research methods of verifying descendants of people enslaved in the U.S. who wish to access benefits.

But he vetoed five other reparations measures backed by the California Legislative Black Caucus, including one that would have allowed colleges to give priority to the descendants of American slavery and another that would have initiated a restitution process for victims of racially motivated eminent domain.

In his veto announcements, Newsom said the legislation was “unnecessary” and cited fiscal challenges accordingly. In a message vetoing a bill that would have set aside at least 10 percent of a state home loan program for descendants of enslaved people, Newsom cited “legal risks” and potential threats to federal funding.

Legal scholars and some members of the state Reparations Task Force — the nation’s first commission created since the killing of George Floyd — previously noted that a 1996 ballot measure, Proposition 209, which prohibits state institutions from taking into account race, sex, color or ethnicity, poses challenges to passing laws based on benefits. Opponents of the reparations laws have threatened to sue under Proposition 209, which has been repeatedly upheld by state courts.

“We’ve been able to achieve some significant victories with the help of our governor,” Weber Pearson, who chairs the California Legislative Black Caucus, said in an interview with CalMatters. “That being said, of course some of our bills have been vetoed. You never get everything you ask for.”

These bills were among the 16Road for repair” priority measures the group introduced this year based on recommendations from the Benefits Task Force.

After two years of research, the commission released a major report in 2023 detailing California’s history of enslavement and racially discriminatory policies, and issued more than 100 recommendations to address the harms done to black Californians.

Since then, the Black Caucus has been working to implement these proposals. Last year, Newsom signed six of the group’s 14 priority bills, one of which required the state to apologize for perpetuating slavery.

Weber Pearson said the group plans to regroup in a few weeks to discuss its direction for 2026.

“With every veto announcement, we have to go back and see if there’s a different way we can approach a solution to the problem,” she said. “In my opinion, a veto is never a no.” It could be “not yet”. It might just be a no this year. And it might be no, but let’s try something different.”

Lisa Holder, a civil rights attorney and former member of the task force, said she was much more focused on the wins than the losses.

“This moment is historic,” she said. “African-Americans have been fighting for reparations since emancipation. This is a significant step that California has now taken to make reparations a concrete reality. They are building a home to repair damage, and they are building it with the power and stamp of approval of the California government.”

As for Newsom’s veto, Holder said it wouldn’t take one legislative cycle to fix 400 years of damage.

“This is a long-term process and we have a long-term perspective,” she said. “(Newsom) was opening the door for us to redesign the notes, reshape them and make them stronger so they can withstand any legal attacks.”

Some advocacy groups, which want California to move faster on repairing damages, have formally opposed the new laws, arguing that the research study and the bureau will only create crippling delays in enforcement.

“This is a delay by design,” said Chris Lodgeson, a spokesman for the Coalition for a Fair and Just California, a grassroots advocacy group.

After the governor’s veto, he said he believes his coalition can offer a more effective path rooted in solutions that are written and articulated by community members.

“We think we can start the renovation sooner rather than later,” he said. “A better way forward would not require additional years of training and creating more government.”

Kayla Michalovich is a contributor to California Local News.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.