Newsom vetoes extension for California reparations task force, holding to 2023 deadline

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday vetoed a bill that would have extended deadlines for the California Reparations Task Force, the committee charged with addressing the state’s legacy of enslavement and discrimination.

A member of the reparations task force, Assemblyman Reggie Jones-Sawyer, D-Los Angeles, wrote the bill, aiming to extend its deadline past July 1, 2023. The bill would have given the task force another year to complete its work, through July 1, 2024.

Advocates for reparations criticized the potential delay, saying it could defer compensation to descendants of enslaved people.

Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who as an assemblywoman wrote the law that created the task force, also opposed extending the deadline. Newsom in a veto message said he rejected the bill at Weber’s request.

Reparations advocate Chris Lodgson said he was thankful that Weber and others spoke out against the bill.

It was a “bad bill and deserved to be vetoed,” said Lodgson, a member of Coalition for a Just and Equitable California. “The governor made the right decision. As reparations advocates, our job is to make sure the reparations development process is open, transparent, led by the descendant community, free from political influence.”

The task force in March issued a report recommending that California provide reparations to descendants of enslaved people and to Black families who can trace their lineage to the 19th century. In June, it issued a second report describing the effects of discrimination against Black households, and urging different kinds of relief to account for longstanding inequities in health, income, criminal justice and education.

Jones-Sawyer wrote the bill that would have given the task force another year to collectively prepare to present the case for California, and the federal government, to disseminate reparations to those eligible.

In an email statement to The Sacramento Bee, Jones-Sawyer expressed concerns that radical individuals and their supporters will invoke racist demands into the legislative proceedings, tainting the work the task force committee has completed in the previous two years.

The bill “would have avoided this by simply allowing the Task Force to remain in existence an additional year to help guide policy and advocate for advantageous outcomes,” said Jones-Sawyer.

Jones-Sawyer believed his Assembly Bill 2296 would have given the California Legislature a point of reference, as lawmakers sought out answers from a task force that studied and compiled data regarding reparations.

“Good policy is not created in a vacuum. Good policy takes time, compromise, and mutual respect,” said Jones-Sawyer. “Intimidation and aggression toward opposing views strips our credibility and poisons the well.”