New Bill Introduced to Give Admission Priority for Slave Descendants At UC, CSU

Efforts to add more reparations laws to the books in California in 2025 began on Monday when Assemblyman Isaac Bryan (D-Los Angeles) introduced a new bill based on a Reparations Task Force suggestion that would give admission priority to the descendants of slaves at the University of California (UC) and California State University (CSU).

Following the George Floyd incident and a renewed call for reparations in California in 2020, the state quickly took action. Over the next three years the state formed the Reparations Task Force and had a long, controversial road to a final report. This included a December 2022 report that found that an estimated $569 billion was needed to be provided by the state for reparations to be implemented, leading to disbelief and the threat of lawsuits if the number holds. Public and political opposition quickly grew, especially after the $569 billion jumped to a $800 billion compensation plan, approved by the Task Force in May 2023. Task Force members actually blasted media for focusing on the $800 million price tag, and said “STOP focusing on the monetary part of the plan.” Another figure of $1.2 million given to each black resident was similarly scrutinized. It was so much that Governor Newsom said that he would not support cash payments, both due to the large cost and the massive $22.5 billion budget deficit that the state was facing.

Following their final list of recommendations released in Jun 2023, lawmakers began creating laws around them. In 2024, fourteen of the recommendations were considered, but by the end of the session in September, only a few had been passed. All the little-to-no cost measures with no real legal or political challenges made it, like AB 3089, in which the state issues an apology over slavery and puts a plaque in the Capitol to commemorate it.

However, other bills had no chance, with some not even making it to the summer. This included two bills authored by Bradford that were held back in the Senate in May due to their costly nature. One, SB 1013, would have given major financial property tax assistance solely for black descendants of slaves. The other, SB 1007, would have given housing grants for the same group in formerly redlined areas. Other bills limped along into the slog of August where more were sorted out. High cost bills still bit the dust.

Most critically was Sen. Bradford’s Senate Bill 1403, which would have created the California American Freedman Affairs Agency to assist Californians with reparations program, and, Senate Bill 1331, which would have created the reparations fund. Both were cast off to the inactive file following Governor Gavin Newsom saying that he wouldn’t sign them. Newsom also vetoed another critical bill, SB 1050, that would have given black families a way to either get land back or compensation for land wrongfully taken because of racially motivated means. Reparations were also completely voted down by voters on the ballot, with Proposition 6, which would have halted involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime, being soundly defeated.

Reparation bills return for 2025

Despite reparations failures by and large failing this year, lawmakers vowed to introduce more legislation in 2025. This led to Monday, when the new reparation bills for 2025 were kicked off by Assemblyman Bryan introducing a measure to give admission priority to the descendants of slaves at UC and CSU colleges. The bill, made partially in response to the federal ruling banning affirmative action in colleges, was also in part to help halt the removal of DEI policies and potentially stop the Trump administration from fining universities over DEI programs.

“For decades universities gave preferential admission treatment to donors, and their family members, while others tied to legacies of harm were ignored and at times outright excluded,” said Bryan. “We have a moral responsibility to do all we can to right those wrongs. There is a growing understanding of California’s role in perpetuating the inequalities that arose from slavery, and there’s a willingness to try to rectify that harm, to heal that harm.

“The purpose of the measure is to rectify past and current discrimination at universities. When folks think about reparations, they think about just cash payments. But repairing the harm and the inequality that came from slavery and the policies thereafter is a much bigger process.”

Reactions to the first of several reparations bills for 2025 came in quickly on Monday.

“State lawmakers know that this is the only way they can move things like these up,” said Katherine Douglas, a Washington-based analyst who focuses on state reparation efforts, to the Globe Monday. “You put it to voters, and they’ll vote these measures down. Look at Prop 6 or the many times voters there turned down Affirmative Action policies. The Governor said he won’t do it through executive actions. And even now, federal laws can come in and stop them with the Trump administration wanting to crack down on DEI policies.

“So even though the majority of people don’t want reparations, lawmakers there are still trying by using many iffy excuses like it being a “Moral responsibility”. In all honesty, a lot of bills will likely be decided on financial impact once again. But this one, oof, a lot of lawmakers are for affirmative action in California, but lawmakers may also be listening to donors and constituents on this one, as it screams of affirmative action and so many people in the state are opposed to it..”

More reparations bills are expected to be introduced soon.