Sacramento, California - Racial justice advocates are urging Californians to take action for reparations as the fate of two critical bills hangs in the balance.

Activists have accused lawmakers of intentionally delaying a full Assembly vote on two pieces of legislation that would lay the groundwork for reparations in California:

• Senate Bill 1403 would create the California American Freedmen Affairs Agency (CAFAA), tasked with helping administer reparations. The government agency would have its own Genealogy Office and Office of Legal Affairs to support reparations claims. It 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.
  
• Senate Bill 1331 would set up the Fund for Reparations and Reparative Justice in the state treasury to finance reparations initiatives approved by the legislature and governor.
  

If the CAFAA and funding bills do not pass out of the Assembly by the end of the day on Saturday, they will die, and California will be left without the critical infrastructure to carry out reparative justice initiatives.

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The legislation had already passed out of the Assembly Judiciary Committee and Assembly Appropriations Committee as well as won approval in the state Senate. The full Assembly vote is the last step required to send the measures to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk.

Some grassroots reparations advocates have suggested that Newsom does not want to sign the bills and is putting pressure on California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) members to refuse to bring them to a vote. TAG24 could not immediately verify the reports.

On Wednesday, the Assembly voted 56-0 to pass Senate Bill 1050, which would establish a means of restoring property seized in race-based uses of eminent domain to the original owners or their descendants, or alternatively providing them with financial compensation. The bill tasks the CAFAA's Office of Legal Affairs, to be created via Senate Bill 1403, with evaluating claims.

The three bills, championed by state Senator Steven Bradford, emerged out of recommendations in the California Reparations Task Force's groundbreaking final report. The policy blueprint was designed to remedy generations of harms against Black people in the Golden State, from the enslavement era through the present day.

The lower chamber on Thursday passed Assembly Bill 3089, which would issue a formal apology to Black Californians for human rights violations and crimes against humanity inflicted upon enslaved Africans and their descendants – another task force recommendation.

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While crucial, advocates have said that an apology alone – without tangible redress – is insufficient to address historic injustice.

Now, reparations organizations and activists are urging Californians to flood the Assembly floor in Sacramento on Friday and Saturday to pressure lawmakers to bring the pending legislation to a vote. They are also asking people to contact the offices of Newsom and CLBC leaders in support of the bills.

"This is absolutely UNACCEPTABLE! We made it this far, and the PEOPLE deserve a VOTE!!!" the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California insisted on X.