Sacramento, California - Legislation calling for a California American Freedmen Affairs Agency to help implement reparations is one step closer to passage!

California's SB 1403, which aims to create a government agency responsible for helping administer reparations, advanced out of the state's Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday in an 8-1 vote. The bill now heads to the Senate Governmental Organization Committee.

If enacted, the California American Freedmen Affairs Agency would have its own Genealogy Office and Office of Legal Affairs to support reparations claims. Only African-American descendants of an enslaved person or free Black people living in the US prior to the end of the 19th century would qualify to receive compensation.

The new agency would also have the power to oversee and monitor existing state agencies and departments' implementation of reparations measures that fall within their scope of authority.

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SB 1403 emerged out of the over 115 policy recommendations in the California Reparations Task Force's final report, issued last June after two years of research and public engagement.

Kamilah Moore, who served as the task force's chair, testified Tuesday to the bill's urgent necessity, saying, "This agency symbolizes a crucial stride towards reparatory justice, particularly for those whose lineage traces back to enslaved ancestors."

In her testimony, Moore went on to provide examples of how Black Californians who trace their ancestry to the enslavement era continue to suffer stark racial disparities today.

Descendant families' median net wealth is just a small fraction of that of white families, she said, while descendant entrepreneurs are three times more likely to be denied bank loans, limiting their potential for economic growth and innovation.

Health care access and outcomes also remain starkly unequal, with infants in descendant families two times more likely to die by their first birthday.

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"These statistics are not mere numbers but reflect real lives diminished by systemic injustices, a legacy of slavery and systemic discrimination perpetuated by the State of California," Moore said.

"This agency seeks to dismantle these barriers, advocating for and implementing reparation measures that address these deep-rooted disparities."

The vote on SB 1403 took place on the birthday of the late Paul Robeson, a legendary African-American athlete, singer, actor, scholar, and activist. In 1951, Robeson submitted a petition before the United Nations charging the US with genocide against Black Americans.