California Governor Newsom Weighs In on $800 Billion Slavery Reparations Recommendation

Gov. Gavin Newsom has weighed in on a recommendation to pay Black Californians an estimated $800 billion in reparations for slavery—and he has declined to directly endorse the proposal.

In a statement to KCRA 3 Newsom said, "Dealing with that legacy is about much more than cash payments. This work must continue.”

The state's plan to compensate and apologize to Black residents has been approved by a task force but how much money would be paid out must still be decided.

The California Reparations Task Force gave approval Saturday to a list of proposals that will go to state lawmakers to consider.

The task force voted previously to limit reparations to descendants of enslaved or free Black people who were in the country by the end of the 19th century.

The plan does not come with an overall price tag or how much Black residents would be paid. Instead, it has mathematical formulas based on a variety of factors.

CalMatters reports that some residents could receive more than $1 million under the current plan.

“There’s no way in the world that many of these recommendations are going to get through because of the inflationary impact,” Roy L. Brooks, a professor and reparations scholar at the University of San Diego School of Law told the Associated Press.

Some estimates from economists have projected that the state could owe $800 billion, or more than 2.5 times the state’s annual budget, in reparations under the plan.

The San Fransisco Chronicle notes that there is also a big question of whether any reparations plan would survive a legal challenge in front of the U.S. Supreme Court.

A reparations proposal has stalled at the federal level, but the idea flourished in California as well as U.S. cities and counties following the death of George Floyd.

Newsom signed legislation in 2020 creating the reparations task force. The panel is scheduled to meet one last time on June 30 to formally adopt the plan.