Senator Bradford Blames Governor Newsom for Halting Key Reparations Bills in California

Reparations are being stalled in California.

Surprise, surprise. According to Politico.com, Democratic state Sen. Steven Bradford is blaming Gov. Gavin Newsom for the stalling of “key slavery reparations bills on the final day of the legislative session.”

Bradford and other advocates backing the state’s multiyear effort to repair harms and institutional racism said that the governor’s aides “pushed to dramatically narrow a proposal for a new state reparations agency. These changes mean the state would only authorize the further study of the issue.”

What’s going on? Draft amendments proposed sending $6 million to California State University to study the implementation of recommendations from the state’s task force on reparations, including confirming the status of a person seeking reparations. However, the draft changes remove the bill’s core purpose, which is to create a new Freedmen Affairs Agency.

Bradford’s office did confirm the authenticity of the draft, saying it had come from the Newsom administration. The senator told journalists “the governor’s office had cited cost pressures during a year in which the state had to trim billions from its budget.”

“(Newsom has) been working collaboratively with the Legislative Black Caucus on their reparations package,” Newsom spokesperson Izzy Gardon said.

Still, the state task force last year issued a lengthy report with recommendations after extensive research and public testimony. The two bills that ended up stalled were among more than a dozen proposals. And the Black Caucus members have said the group intends to spend years implementing the task force’s research.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber wrote the 2020 bill that Governor Newsom signed to create the reparations task force, back when she served in the Assembly.

Several reparations bills promoted by the California Legislative Black Caucus passed the Legislature in 2024, including Bradford creating a process for Californians whose land was stolen from them through eminent domain, and another from Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sayer, requiring the state to formally apologize for slavery, racism, and discrimination.

Serving on the reparations task force, Bradford said he will not accept the governor’s proposed amendments.

“You hear challenges on every piece of legislation,” the senator said. ‘That doesn’t mean that you don’t move forward with it.”