Former law, Chapter 319 of the Statutes of 2020, until July 1, 2023, established a task force to, among other things, identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies, as specified, and to recommend the form of compensation that should be awarded, the instrumentalities through which it should be awarded, and who should be eligible for this compensation.

Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, establishes the Civil Rights Department and sets forth its powers and duties, including, among others, receiving, investigating, and prosecuting complaints alleging violations of civil rights, as specified.

This bill would establish the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within the department, under the control of the deputy director, who would be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The bill would require the bureau to create a Genealogy Division, as specified, and to verify an individuals status as a descendant and would require proof of an individuals descendant status to be a qualifying criterion for benefits authorized by the state for descendants. The bill would also require the bureau to create an Education and Outreach Division and a Legal Affairs Division. The bill would impose various requirements on the bureau relating to the collection, storage, and disclosure of personal and genetic information, as specified. The bill would authorize the bureau to receive moneys from any federal, state, or local grant and from any nongovernmental entity, as specified.

This bill would make implementation of its provisions contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature, as specified.

This bill would include findings and declarations relating to a gift of public funds.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Former law, Chapter 319 of the Statutes of 2020, until July 1, 2023, established a task force to, among other things, identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies, as specified, and to recommend the form of compensation that should be awarded, the instrumentalities through which it should be awarded, and who should be eligible for this compensation.

Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, establishes the Civil Rights Department and sets forth its powers and duties, including, among others, receiving, investigating, and prosecuting complaints alleging violations of civil rights, as specified.

This bill would establish the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within the department, under the control of the deputy director, who would be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The bill would require the bureau to create a Genealogy Division, as specified, and to verify an individuals status as a descendant and would require proof of an individuals descendant status to be a qualifying criterion for benefits authorized by the state for descendants. The bill would also require the bureau to create an Education and Outreach Division and a Legal Affairs Division. The bill would impose various requirements on the bureau relating to the collection, storage, and disclosure of personal and genetic information, as specified. The bill would authorize the bureau to receive moneys from any federal, state, or local grant and from any nongovernmental entity, as specified.

This bill would make implementation of its provisions contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature, as specified.

This bill would include findings and declarations relating to a gift of public funds.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Former law, Chapter 319 of the Statutes of 2020, until July 1, 2023, established a task force to, among other things, identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies, as specified, and to recommend the form of compensation that should be awarded, the instrumentalities through which it should be awarded, and who should be eligible for this compensation.

Existing law, the California Fair Employment and Housing Act, establishes the Civil Rights Department and sets forth its powers and duties, including, among others, receiving, investigating, and prosecuting complaints alleging violations of civil rights, as specified.

This bill would establish the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within the department, under the control of the deputy director, who would be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The bill would require the bureau, as part of its duties, bureau to create a Genealogy Division, as specified, and to verify an individuals status as a descendant and would require proof of an individuals descendant status to be a qualifying criterion for benefits authorized by the state for descendants. To accomplish these goals, the The bill would also require the bureau to be composed of a Genealogy Division, create an Education and Outreach Division, Division and a Legal Affairs Division. The bill would impose various requirements on the bureau relating to the collection, storage, and disclosure of personal and genetic information, as specified. The bill would authorize the bureau to receive moneys from any federal, state, or local grant and from any nongovernmental entity, as specified, and would continuously appropriate any nongeneral-fund moneys received for purposes of the bureau. specified.

This bill would make implementation of its provisions contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature, as specified.

This bill would include findings and declarations relating to a gift of public funds.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Former law, Chapter 319 of the Statutes of 2020, until July 1, 2023, established a task force to, among other things, identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies, as specified, and to recommend the form of compensation that should be awarded, the instrumentalities through which it should be awarded, and who should be eligible for this compensation.

This bill would establish the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within the Department of Justice, department, under the control of the director, who would be appointed by the Attorney General Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The bill would require the bureau, as part of its duties, to verify an individuals status as a descendant and would require proof of an individuals descendant status to be a qualifying criterion for benefits authorized by the state for descendants. To accomplish these goals, the bill would require the bureau to be comprised composed of a Genealogy Division, a Property Reclamation Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Affairs Division. The bill would impose various requirements on the bureau relating to the collection, storage, and disclosure of personal and genetic information, as specified. The bill would impose specified duties on the Property Reclamation Division to accept, review, and investigate applications, to determine whether an applicant is a dispossessed owner, and, if so, to determine whether and what type of property or just compensation is warranted, as defined and specified. In this regard, the bill would require a local entity, upon a determination that issuing property or just compensation is warranted, to recommend publicly held properties suitable as compensation. By imposing new duties on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the bureau to receive moneys from any federal, state, or local grant and from any nongovernmental entity, as specified, and would continuously appropriate any nongeneral-fund moneys received for purposes of the bureau.

This bill would make implementation of its provisions contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature, as specified.

This bill would include findings and declarations relating to a gift of public funds.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

Former law, Chapter 319 of the Statutes of 2020, until July 1, 2023, established a task force to, among other things, identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies, as specified, and to recommend the form of compensation that should be awarded, the instrumentalities through which it should be awarded, and who should be eligible for this compensation.

This bill would establish the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within the Department of Justice, under the control of the director, who would be appointed by the Attorney General and confirmed by the Senate. The bill would require the bureau, as part of its duties, to verify an individuals status as a descendant and would require proof of an individuals descendant status to be a qualifying criterion for benefits authorized by the state for descendants. To accomplish these goals, the bill would require the bureau to be comprised of a Genealogy Division, a Property Reclamation Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Affairs Division. The bill would impose various requirements on the bureau relating to the collection, storage, and disclosure of personal and genetic information, as specified. The bill would impose specified duties on the Property Reclamation Division to accept, review, and investigate applications, to determine whether an applicant is a dispossessed owner, and, if so, to determine whether and what type of property or just compensation is warranted, as defined and specified. In this regard, the bill would require a local entity, upon a determination that issuing property or just compensation is warranted, to recommend publicly held properties suitable as compensation. By imposing new duties on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

This bill would authorize the state or local entity that took the property to provide compensation in accordance with the divisions determination. If the state or local entity does not provide compensation, the bill would authorize a dispossessed owner to bring a claim for compensation and to assert any legal claim that would have been available to the property owner at the time of the taking.

This bill would make implementation of its provisions contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature, as specified.

This bill would include findings and declarations relating to a gift of public funds.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Former law, Chapter 319 of the Statutes of 2020, until July 1, 2023, established the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States (Task Force).

Former law required the Task Force, a task force to, among other things, to identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies, as specified, and to recommend the form of compensation that should be awarded, the instrumentalities through which it should be awarded, and who should be eligible for this compensation.

This bill would establish the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within the Department of Justice, under the control of the director, who would be appointed by the Attorney General and confirmed by the Senate. The bill would require the bureau, as part of its duties, to determine how verify an individuals status as a descendant would be confirmed. The bill would also and would require proof of an individuals descendant status to be a qualifying criterion for benefits authorized by the state for descendants. To accomplish these goals, the bill would require the bureau to be comprised of a Genealogy Division, a Property Reclamation Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Affairs Division. The bill would impose various requirements on the bureau relating to the collection, storage, and disclosure of personal and genetic information, as specified. The bill would impose specified duties on the Property Reclamation Division to accept, review, and investigate applications, to determine whether an applicant is a dispossessed owner, and, if so, to determine whether and what type of property or just compensation is warranted, as defined and specified. In this regard, the bill would require a local entity, upon a determination that issuing property or just compensation is warranted, to recommend publicly held properties suitable as compensation. By imposing new duties on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

This bill would authorize the state or local entity that took the property to provide compensation in accordance with the divisions determination. If the state or local entity does not provide compensation, the bill would authorize a dispossessed owner to bring a claim for compensation and to assert any legal claim that would have been available to the property owner at the time of the taking.

This bill would make implementation of its provisions contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature, as specified.

This bill would include findings and declarations relating to a gift of public funds.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Former law, until July 1, 2023, established the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States (Task Force).

Former law required the Task Force, among other things, to identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies, as specified, and to recommend the form of compensation that should be awarded, the instrumentalities through which it should be awarded, and who should be eligible for this compensation.

This bill would establish the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within the Department of Justice, under the control of the director, who would be appointed by the Attorney General and confirmed by the Senate. The bill would require the bureau, as part of its duties, to determine how an individuals status as a descendant would be confirmed. The bill would also require proof of an individuals descendant status to be a qualifying criterion for benefits authorized by the state for descendants. To accomplish these goals, the bill would require the bureau to be comprised of a Genealogy Division, a Property Reclamation Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Affairs Division. The bill would, upon appropriation, would impose specified duties on the Property Reclamation Division to accept, review, and investigate applications, to determine whether an applicant is a dispossessed owner, and, if so, to determine whether and what type of property or just compensation is warranted, as defined and specified. In this regard, the bill would require a local entity, upon a determination that issuing property or just compensation is warranted, to recommend publicly held properties suitable as compensation. By imposing new duties on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

This bill would authorize the state or local entity that took the property to provide compensation in accordance with the divisions determination. The bill would make this authorization on state entities subject to appropriation. If the state or local entity does not provide compensation, the bill would authorize a dispossessed owner to bring a claim for compensation and to assert any legal claim that would have been available to the property owner at the time of the taking.

This bill would include findings and declarations relating to a gift of public funds.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Former law, until July 1, 2023, established the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States (Task Force).

Former law required the Task Force, among other things, to identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies, as specified, and to recommend the form of compensation that should be awarded, the instrumentalities through which it should be awarded, and who should be eligible for this compensation.

This bill would establish the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within the Department of Justice, under the control of the director, who would be appointed by the Attorney General and confirmed by the Senate. The bill would require the bureau, as part of its duties, to determine how an individuals status as a descendant would be confirmed. The bill would also require proof of an individuals descendant status to be a qualifying criterion for benefits authorized by the state for descendants. To accomplish these goals, the bill would require the bureau to be comprised of a Genealogy Division, a Property Reclamation Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Affairs Division. The bill would, upon appropriation, impose specified duties on the Property Reclamation Division to accept, review, and investigate applications, to determine whether an applicant is a dispossessed owner, and, if so, to determine whether and what type of property or just compensation is warranted, as defined and specified. In this regard, the bill would require a local entity, upon a determination that issuing property or just compensation is warranted, to recommend publicly held properties suitable as compensation and to provide compensation in accordance with the divisions determination. compensation. By imposing new duties on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

This bill would include findings and declarations relating to a gift of public funds.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Former law, until July 1, 2023, established the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States (Task Force).

Former law required the Task Force, among other things, to identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies, as specified, and to recommend the form of compensation that should be awarded, the instrumentalities through which it should be awarded, and who should be eligible for this compensation.

This bill would establish the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within the Department of Justice, under the control of the director, who would be appointed by the Attorney General and confirmed by the Senate. The bill would require the bureau, as part of its duties, to determine how an individuals status as a descendant would be confirmed. The bill would also require proof of an individuals descendant status to be a qualifying criterion for benefits authorized by the state for descendants. To accomplish these goals, the bill would require the bureau to be comprised of a Genealogy Division, a Property Reclamation Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Affairs Division. The bill would, upon appropriation, impose specified duties on the Property Reclamation Division to accept, review, and investigate applications, to determine whether an applicant is a dispossessed owner, and, if so, to determine whether and what type of property or just compensation is warranted, as defined and specified. In this regard, the bill would require a local entity, upon a determination that issuing property or just compensation is warranted, to recommend publicly held properties suitable as compensation and to provide compensation in accordance with the divisions determination. By imposing new duties on local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

Former law, until July 1, 2023, established the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States (Task Force).

Former law required the Task Force, among other things, to identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies, as specified, and to recommend the form of compensation that should be awarded, the instrumentalities through which it should be awarded, and who should be eligible for this compensation.

This bill would establish the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within state government, the Department of Justice, under the control of the director, who would be appointed by the Governor Attorney General and confirmed by the Senate. The bill would require the bureau, as part of its duties, to determine how an individuals status as a descendant would be confirmed. The bill would also require proof of an individuals descendant status to be a qualifying criterion for benefits authorized by the state for descendants. To accomplish these goals, the bill would require the bureau to be comprised of a Genealogy Division, a Property Reclamation Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Affairs Division.

Former law, until July 1, 2023, established the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States (Task Force).

Former law required the Task Force, among other things, to identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies, as specified, and to recommend the form of compensation that should be awarded, the instrumentalities through which it should be awarded, and who should be eligible for this compensation.

This bill would establish the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within state government, under the control of the director, who would be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate. The bill would require the bureau, as part of its duties, to determine how an individuals status as a descendant would be confirmed. The bill would also require proof of an individuals descendant status to be a qualifying criterion for benefits authorized by the state for descendants. To accomplish these goals, the bill would require the bureau to be comprised of a Genealogy Division, a Property Reclamation Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Affairs Division.

Existing law prohibits a state agency, with certain exceptions, from employing any in-house counsel to act on behalf of the state agency or its employees in any judicial or administrative adjudicative proceeding in which the agency is interested, or is a party as a result of office or official duties, or contracting with outside counsel for any purpose.

This bill would exempt the bureau from those prohibitions.

 UNFINISHED BUSINESS 

Bill No: SB 518

Author: Weber Pierson (D), et al.

Amended: 9/5/25

Vote: 21

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 11-2, 4/22/25

AYES: Umberg, Allen, Arreguín, Ashby, Caballero, Durazo, Laird, Stern, Wahab, Weber Pierson, Wiener

NOES: Niello, Valladares

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-1, 5/23/25

AYES: Caballero, Cabaldon, Grayson, Richardson, Wahab

NOES: Seyarto

NO VOTE RECORDED: Dahle

SENATE FLOOR: 28-10, 6/2/25

AYES: Allen, Archuleta, Arreguín, Ashby, Becker, Blakespear, Cabaldon, Caballero, Cervantes, Cortese, Durazo, Gonzalez, Grayson, Laird, Limón, McGuire, McNerney, Menjivar, Padilla, Pérez, Richardson, Rubio, Smallwood-Cuevas, Stern, Umberg, Wahab, Weber Pierson, Wiener

NOES: Alvarado-Gil, Choi, Dahle, Grove, Jones, Niello, Ochoa Bogh, Seyarto, Strickland, Valladares

NO VOTE RECORDED: Hurtado, Reyes

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 60-17, 9/9/25 - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Descendants of enslaved persons: reparations

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This bill, contingent upon appropriation of sufficient funding by the Legislature, establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery (Bureau) within state government, and establishes the Bureau’s duties relating to determining an individual’s status as a descendant.

Assembly Amendments

move the Bureau from the Department of Justice to the Civil Rights Department (CRD); remove the provisions establishing a Property Reclamation Division within the Bureau and the provisions for providing compensation to victims of racially motivated eminent domain; modify the definition of “descendant”; require the Bureau’s Genealogy Division to adopt establish a process for certification of descendants consistent with the process adopted through SB 437 (Weber Pierson, 2025); and add provisions for the protection of nonpublic personal and genetic information held under the Bureau’s authority.

ANALYSIS:

Existing constitutional law:

1. Provides for equal protection under the law. (United States Constitution (U.S. Const.), 14th Amend., § 1; California Constitution (Cal. Const.), art. I, § 7.)
2. Provides that all persons are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights, including acquiring, possessing, and protecting property. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 1.)
3. Provides that the State shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 31.)

State law establishes the Task Force to Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans, with Special Consideration for African Americans who are Descended from Persons Enslaved in the United States (Task Force), and provided that the Task Force statutes would remain in effect until July 1, 2023, and as of that date be repealed. (Government Code (Gov. Code), §§ 8301-8301.7, repealed by Gov. Code § 8301.7.)

This bill:

1. States the following Legislative intent:
   1. It is the intent of the Legislature in establishing the Bureau to establish an initial framework, and that the scope and responsibilities of the Bureau may expand as necessary to fulfill its mission and address additional harms as identified.
   2. It is the intent of the Legislature that, as the Bureau expands its scope in the future, it shall do both of the following: (1) address the lasting harms of disenfranchisement, segregation, discrimination, exclusion, neglect, and violence impacting both descendants and communities harmed as described in the Task Force’s report, and (2) advise on reparative remedies to target the persistent consequences of that legacy, as described in the Task Force’s report.
   3. Implementation of this bill shall be contingent upon appropriation of sufficient funding by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or other statute for that purpose.
2. Defines the following terms:
   1. “Bureau” means the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery.
   2. “Deputy director” means the Deputy Director of the Bureau.
   3. “Descendants” means individuals who can establish direct lineage to a person who, prior to 1900, was subjected to American chattel slavery and meets at least one of the following criteria:
      1. Was emancipated through legal or extralegal means, including self-purchase, manumission, executive or legislative action, military service, or judicial ruling.
      2. Obtained freedom through gradual abolition statutes or constitutional amendments.
      3. Was classified as a fugitive from bondage under federal or state law.
      4. Was deemed contraband by military authorities.
      5. Rendered military or civic service while subject to legal restrictions based on ancestry historically associated with slavery.
3. Establishes the Bureau in within the CRD; the Bureau shall be under the direct control of a deputy director who is responsible to the Director of Civil Rights.
4. Provides that the deputy director of the Bureau shall be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, and shall perform all duties, exercise all powers, assume and discharge all responsibilities, and carry out and effect all purposes vested by law in the Bureau.
5. Requires the Bureau to establish a mission statement consistent with the recommendations from the former Task Force.
6. Requires the Bureau to verify an individual’s status as a descendant, proof of which shall be a qualifying criterion for benefits authorized by the state for descendants.
7. Requires the Bureau to create a Genealogy Division; following the establishment of a process for conducting or verifying genelogical research for the purpose of confirming an individual’s status as a descendant as provided in SB 437 (Weber Pierson, 2025), the Genealogy Division shall do all of the following:
   1. Establish a process for individuals to request certification informed by the process created pursuant to SB 437 (Weber Pierson, 2025).
   2. Review and determine requests for certification as a descendant.
   3. Establish a process for individuals to appeal a determination made pursuant to the certification process.
8. Provides that the certification process described in 7) shall become operative only if SB 437 (Weber Pierson, 2025) takes effect on or before January 1, 2026.
9. Requires the Bureau to create an Education and Outreach Division to develop and implement a public education campaign regarding all of the following:
   1. The cycle of gentrification, displacement, and exclusion.
   2. The connection between redlining and gentrification.
   3. The history of discriminatory urban planning in California.
   4. Other findings presented in the California Reparations Report.
10. Permits the Education and Outreach Division, to accomplish the goals in 9), to collaborate with colleges and universities, community organizations, and individuals, including organizations supported with funds specified in Item 6610-001-0001 of the Budget Act of 2025.
11. Requires the Bureau to create a Legal Affairs Division to do all of the following:
    1. Provide legal advice, counsel, and services to the Bureau and its officials.
    2. Ensure that the Bureau’s programs are administered in accordance with applicable legislative authority.
    3. Advise the head of the Bureau on legislative legal, regulatory initiatives.
    4. Serve as an external liaison on legal matters with other state agencies and other entities.
12. Provides that nonpublic personal and genetic information held under the Bureau’s authority shall be collected, held, and disclosed only as relevant and necessary to accomplish the purposes set forth in this bill and in a manner permitted by and consistent with federal and California data privacy laws.
13. Requires the Bureau, before asking individuals to supply information for its system of records, to inform each individual all of the following:
    1. The authority that authorizes the solicitation of the information and whether disclosure of that information is voluntary or mandatory.
    2. The principal purpose or purposes for which the information is intended to be used.
    3. The routine uses that may be made of the information.
    4. The effects on the individual, if any, of not providing all or any part of the requested information.
14. Prohibits the Bureau from disclosing any data contained in its system of records by any means of communication to any person except as necessary to fulfill the purposes of this bill and pursuant to either a written request by, or the written consent of, the individual to whom the record pertains; intra-agency, interagency, or public disclosure shall not be permitted without that written authorization.
15. Permits the Bureau to receive moneys from any federal, state, or local grant and from any nongovernmental entity, including from any private donation or grant, for the purposes of this bill.
16. Contains a severability clause.

Comments

In 2020, the Legislature passed, and the Governor signed, SB 3121 (Weber, Ch. 319, Stats. 2020), which established the first-in-the nation Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States (Task Force) to study and develop reparations proposals for California’s role in accommodating and facilitating slavery, perpetuating the vestiges of enslavement, enforcing state-sanctioned discrimination, and permitting pervasive, systematic structures of discrimination against African Americans. The Task Force completed its work and issued its final report in 2023. The report contains a number of recommended remedies the state could implement in order to atone for its decades of state-sanctioned white supremacy.

This bill is intended to implement two of the Task Force’s recommendations, by establishing the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery to oversee reparations programs, including by establishing a method for determining how a person can establish their status as a descendant eligible for reparations. Amendments taken in the Assembly clarify how the Bureau will adopt recommendations for establishing descendant status developed pursuant to SB 437 (Weber Pierson, 2025) and provide privacy protections for personal and genetic information provided to the Bureau. The bill’s implementation is contingent upon the Legislature’s appropriation of sufficient funding for the bill’s purpose.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, the fiscal effect is as follows:

1. Costs (General Fund, Legal Services Revolving Fund) to DOJ to establish and operate the Bureau, likely in the tens of millions of dollars annually at a minimum. DOJ provided this committee with a cost estimate for the May 23, 2025, version of this bill, which was substantively similar to the current version but did not contain the personal information provisions referenced in item 8, above. DOJ anticipated costs of approximately $11.3 million in fiscal year (FY) 2025-26, $20 million in FY 2026-29, and $18 million ongoing thereafter. These costs are largely for staffing; the department estimates it will need about 85 new staff positions spread across DOJ’s existing legal, information services, and research divisions to handle the workload required of the Bureau. DOJ’s estimate also includes substantial resources to establish an IT infrastructure for the Bureau. The department notes it requires delayed implementation until January 1, 2027, to accommodate hiring of legal staff and until January 1, 2030, to create IT systems.

This is likely a conservative estimate; actual costs to operate the Bureau may be higher, especially if additional reparative proposals for descendants of enslaved people are implemented in the future. As noted below, several such proposals are pending in the Legislature this session.

1. Costs (General Fund, special funds) of an unknown but likely significant amount to state entities to compensate dispossessed owners. Actual costs will depend on the number of claims substantiated by the Bureau; state workload associated with evaluating claims, providing information to the Bureau as required, and litigating claims; and the value of real property or monetary compensation ultimately awarded. In the aggregate, these costs may be in the tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars.

The following state entities reported costs as of the date this analysis was prepared:

• Department of Water Resources (DWR) anticipates costs above $5 million to search records upon request by potential dispossessed owners of property. DWR also notes the Department of General Services would charge the department approximately $12,000 per transaction in the event property is required to be returned to a dispossessed owner.
• State Parks anticipates costs around $2.5 million (General Fund) for 12 full time positions, including an archivist, analysts, attorneys, legal secretary, agents, and state historian. State Parks reports the state park system is comprised of over 1.6 million acres of land and began during an era of systemic discrimination; the department will need significant resources for staff with “expertise in history, archives, research, property, and law to locate, authenticate, and contextualize relevant historical documentation to ensure an objective evaluation” of property that may be subject to claims authorized by this bill. State Parks anticipates costs possibly in the tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation resulting from such claims.

1. Costs (local funds, General Fund) of an unknown but likely significant amount to local government entities for workload associated with evaluating claims, providing information to the Bureau as required, and litigating claims alleging racially motivated eminent domain. Local entities will also likely incur significant costs providing compensation to dispossessed owners. Local costs incurred to provide information to the Bureau may be reimbursed from the General Fund if the Commission on State Mandates determines those duties constitute a reimbursable state mandate. It is not clear whether the other local costs resulting from this bill may be reimbursable.
2. Costs (Trial Court Trust Fund, General Fund) of an unknown but potentially significant amount to the courts to adjudicate claims for compensation based on racially motivated eminent domain that are rejected by government entities. Actual costs to the courts will depend on the number of cases filed and the amount of time needed to adjudicate each case. It generally costs approximately $1,000 to operate a courtroom for one hour. Although courts are not funded on the basis of workload, increased pressure on the Trial Court Trust Fund may create a demand for increased funding for courts from the General Fund. The fiscal year 2025-26 state budget provides $82 million ongoing General Fund to the Trial Court Trust Fund for court operations.

SUPPORT: (Verified 9/9/25)

ACLU California Action

AdvancED Consulting, LLC

All Home

Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation and Truth

Alliance San Diego

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Civic Empowerment

Asian Law Alliance

BAPAC San Diego Chapter

Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative

Black Californians United for Early Care and Education

Black Equity Collective

Black Leadership Alliance Coalition

Black Women for Wellness Action Project

Black Women Organized for Political Action

Board of Supervisors for the City and County of San Francisco

Buena Vista Community Institute

Buena Vista United Methodist Church

California Black Housing Advisory Taskforce

California Black Power Network

California Faculty Association

Catalyst California

Center Against Racism & Trauma

CFT – A Union of Educators & Classified Professionals, AFT, AFL-CIO

Coalition for Justice and Accountability

Community Housing Development Corporation

Courage California

Don Tamaki, former Task Force Member

Dr. Cheryl Grills, former Task Force Member

Epworth Methodist Church Berkeley

Equal Justice Society

Equality California

Faith in the Valley

First Constitutional Church of Santa Barbara

Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce

Greater Sacramento Urban League

Impact Fund

Imperial Valley Equity & Justice

Japanese American Citizens League, Berkeley Chapter

Japanese American Citizens League, Eden Township Chapter

Japanese American Citizens League, Florin-Sacramento Valley Chapter

Japanese American Citizens League, San Jose Chapter

Lisa Holder, former Task Force Member

Live Free California

Multi-faith ACTION Coalition

NAACP California-Hawai’i Conference

North San Diego County Promise

Prevention Institute

Public Advocates

San Diego for Every Child

San Francisco Public Defender’s Office

Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice

Secure Justice

St. Columba Catholic Church

Western Center on law and Poverty

Where Is My Land

5 individuals

OPPOSITION: (Verified 9/9/25)

American Civil Rights Project

American Redress Coalition of California Bay Area

American Redress Coalition of California Sacramento

California Black Lineage Society

California Organizations for Reparations

Californians for Equal Rights Foundation

Coalition For A Just And Equitable California

Emend the Mass Media Group

Hyde Park Organizational Partnership for Empowerment

Lineage Equity and Advancement Project

New Frontier Democratic Club

Pacific Legal Foundation

San Francisco Bay Area Black & Jewish Unity Coalition

5 individuals

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the Equal Justice Society:

The Equal Justice Society (EJS) supports Senate Bill 518 (Weber-Pierson), which would establish the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery and require the bureau, as part of its duties, to determine how an individual’s status as a descendant would be confirmed. This bill is directly in line with the final recommendations put forth by the California Reparations Task Force, which called for measures that provide practical and meaningful steps to repair the damage caused by centuries of discrimination and systemic injustice…

We believe that reparations for descendants and the larger African American community as a group, should be impactful, transformative, long-lasting, and comprehensive in accordance with the United Nations’ (UN) five principles for reparations.

SB 518 is one of many crucial steps toward addressing the long-lasting and ongoing harms inflicted upon Descendants of U.S. Chattel Slavery and the larger African American community as a group.

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: According to the Lineage Equity and Advancement Project:

Firstly, SB 518 will significantly delay the implementation of policies intended to benefit descendants of enslaved persons. As written, the Bureau cannot begin its work until the completion of genealogy research mandated by SB 437 (Weber Pierson), a separate bill that directs millions of dollars toward unnecessary genealogical research, with no start date and no end date to the research. This indefinite timeline creates an open-ended delay, preventing any meaningful process in establishing eligibility criteria for administering benefits…

Additionally, SB 518 was drafted without meaningful input from grassroots California-based organizations and leaders who have long been engaged in advocating for Reparations and Reparative justice. Effective policy development requires the inclusion of voices from the communities directly impacted by historical injustices. By failing to incorporate the perspectives of these stakeholders in the legislative process, the bill risks implementing top-down solutions that do not fully address the needs, priorities, or concerns of the people it aims to serve, thereby perpetuating one of the harms that California’s Reparations Task Force cited as grounds for Reparative action: namely, political disenfranchisement.

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 60-17, 9/9/25

AYES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Ahrens, Alvarez, Arambula, Ávila Farías, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Boerner, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Caloza, Carrillo, Connolly, Elhawary, Fong, Gabriel, Garcia, Gipson, Mark González, Haney, Harabedian, Hart, Irwin, Jackson, Kalra, Krell, Lee, Lowenthal, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Patel, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Ransom, Celeste Rodriguez, Michelle Rodriguez, Rogers, Blanca Rubio, Schiavo, Schultz, Sharp-Collins, Solache, Soria, Stefani, Valencia, Ward, Wicks, Wilson, Zbur, Rivas

NOES: Castillo, Chen, Davies, DeMaio, Dixon, Ellis, Gallagher, Jeff Gonzalez, Hadwick, Hoover, Johnson, Macedo, Patterson, Sanchez, Ta, Tangipa, Wallis

NO VOTE RECORDED: Alanis, Flora, Lackey

Prepared by: Allison Whitt / JUD. / (916) 651-4113

10/19/26 10:39:26

**** END ****

 UNFINISHED BUSINESS  

Bill No: SB 518

Author: Weber Pierson (D), et al.

Amended: 9/5/25 in Assembly

Vote: 21

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 11-2, 4/22/25

AYES: Umberg, Allen, Arreguín, Ashby, Caballero, Durazo, Laird, Stern, Wahab, Weber Pierson, Wiener

NOES: Niello, Valladares

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-1, 5/23/25

AYES: Caballero, Cabaldon, Grayson, Richardson, Wahab

NOES: Seyarto

NO VOTE RECORDED: Dahle

SENATE FLOOR: 28-10, 6/2/25

AYES: Allen, Archuleta, Arreguín, Ashby, Becker, Blakespear, Cabaldon, Caballero, Cervantes, Cortese, Durazo, Gonzalez, Grayson, Laird, Limón, McGuire, McNerney, Menjivar, Padilla, Pérez, Richardson, Rubio, Smallwood-Cuevas, Stern, Umberg, Wahab, Weber Pierson, Wiener

NOES: Alvarado-Gil, Choi, Dahle, Grove, Jones, Niello, Ochoa Bogh, Seyarto, Strickland, Valladares

NO VOTE RECORDED: Hurtado, Reyes

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 51-12, 9/9/25 – Roll call not available

SUBJECT: Descendants of enslaved persons: reparations

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This bill, contingent upon appropriation of sufficient funding by the Legislature, establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery (Bureau) within state government, and establishes the Bureau’s duties relating to determining an individual’s status as a descendant.

Assembly Amendments

move the Bureau from the Department of Justice to the Civil Rights Department (CRD); remove the provisions establishing a Property Reclamation Division within the Bureau and the provisions for providing compensation to victims of racially motivated eminent domain; modify the definition of “descendant”; require the Bureau’s Genealogy Division to adopt establish a process for certification of descendants consistent with the process adopted through SB 437 (Weber Pierson, 2025); and add provisions for the protection of nonpublic personal and genetic information held under the Bureau’s authority.

ANALYSIS:

Existing constitutional law:

1. Provides for equal protection under the law. (United States Constitution (U.S. Const.), 14th Amend., § 1; California Constitution (Cal. Const.), art. I, § 7.)
2. Provides that all persons are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights, including acquiring, possessing, and protecting property. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 1.)
3. Provides that the State shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 31.)

State law establishes the Task Force to Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans, with Special Consideration for African Americans who are Descended from Persons Enslaved in the United States (Task Force), and provided that the Task Force statutes would remain in effect until July 1, 2023, and as of that date be repealed. (Government Code (Gov. Code), §§ 8301-8301.7, repealed by Gov. Code § 8301.7.)

This bill:

1. States the following Legislative intent:
   1. It is the intent of the Legislature in establishing the Bureau to establish an initial framework, and that the scope and responsibilities of the Bureau may expand as necessary to fulfill its mission and address additional harms as identified.
   2. It is the intent of the Legislature that, as the Bureau expands its scope in the future, it shall do both of the following: (1) address the lasting harms of disenfranchisement, segregation, discrimination, exclusion, neglect, and violence impacting both descendants and communities harmed as described in the Task Force’s report, and (2) advise on reparative remedies to target the persistent consequences of that legacy, as described in the Task Force’s report.
   3. Implementation of this bill shall be contingent upon appropriation of sufficient funding by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or other statute for that purpose.
2. Defines the following terms:
   1. “Bureau” means the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery.
   2. “Deputy director” means the Deputy Director of the Bureau.
   3. “Descendants” means individuals who can establish direct lineage to a person who, prior to 1900, was subjected to American chattel slavery and meets at least one of the following criteria:
      1. Was emancipated through legal or extralegal means, including self-purchase, manumission, executive or legislative action, military service, or judicial ruling.
      2. Obtained freedom through gradual abolition statutes or constitutional amendments.
      3. Was classified as a fugitive from bondage under federal or state law.
      4. Was deemed contraband by military authorities.
      5. Rendered military or civic service while subject to legal restrictions based on ancestry historically associated with slavery.
3. Establishes the Bureau in within the CRD; the Bureau shall be under the direct control of a deputy director who is responsible to the Director of Civil Rights.
4. Provides that the deputy director of the Bureau shall be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, and shall perform all duties, exercise all powers, assume and discharge all responsibilities, and carry out and effect all purposes vested by law in the Bureau.
5. Requires the Bureau to establish a mission statement consistent with the recommendations from the former Task Force.
6. Requires the Bureau to verify an individual’s status as a descendant, proof of which shall be a qualifying criterion for benefits authorized by the state for descendants.
7. Requires the Bureau to create a Genealogy Division; following the establishment of a process for conducting or verifying genelogical research for the purpose of confirming an individual’s status as a descendant as provided in SB 437 (Weber Pierson, 2025), the Genealogy Division shall do all of the following:
   1. Establish a process for individuals to request certification informed by the process created pursuant to SB 437 (Weber Pierson, 2025).
   2. Review and determine requests for certification as a descendant.
   3. Establish a process for individuals to appeal a determination made pursuant to the certification process.
8. Provides that the certification process described in 7) shall become operative only if SB 437 (Weber Pierson, 2025) takes effect on or before January 1, 2026.
9. Requires the Bureau to create an Education and Outreach Division to develop and implement a public education campaign regarding all of the following:
   1. The cycle of gentrification, displacement, and exclusion.
   2. The connection between redlining and gentrification.
   3. The history of discriminatory urban planning in California.
   4. Other findings presented in the California Reparations Report.
10. Permits the Education and Outreach Division, to accomplish the goals in 9), to collaborate with colleges and universities, community organizations, and individuals, including organizations supported with funds specified in Item 6610-001-0001 of the Budget Act of 2025.
11. Requires the Bureau to create a Legal Affairs Division to do all of the following:
    1. Provide legal advice, counsel, and services to the Bureau and its officials.
    2. Ensure that the Bureau’s programs are administered in accordance with applicable legislative authority.
    3. Advise the head of the Bureau on legislative legal, regulatory initiatives.
    4. Serve as an external liaison on legal matters with other state agencies and other entities.
12. Provides that nonpublic personal and genetic information held under the Bureau’s authority shall be collected, held, and disclosed only as relevant and necessary to accomplish the purposes set forth in this bill and in a manner permitted by and consistent with federal and California data privacy laws.
13. Requires the Bureau, before asking individuals to supply information for its system of records, to inform each individual all of the following:
    1. The authority that authorizes the solicitation of the information and whether disclosure of that information is voluntary or mandatory.
    2. The principal purpose or purposes for which the information is intended to be used.
    3. The routine uses that may be made of the information.
    4. The effects on the individual, if any, of not providing all or any part of the requested information.
14. Prohibits the Bureau from disclosing any data contained in its system of records by any means of communication to any person except as necessary to fulfill the purposes of this bill and pursuant to either a written request by, or the written consent of, the individual to whom the record pertains; intra-agency, interagency, or public disclosure shall not be permitted without that written authorization.
15. Permits the Bureau to receive moneys from any federal, state, or local grant and from any nongovernmental entity, including from any private donation or grant, for the purposes of this bill.
16. Contains a severability clause.

Comments

In 2020, the Legislature passed, and the Governor signed, SB 3121 (Weber, Ch. 319, Stats. 2020), which established the first-in-the nation Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States (Task Force) to study and develop reparations proposals for California’s role in accommodating and facilitating slavery, perpetuating the vestiges of enslavement, enforcing state-sanctioned discrimination, and permitting pervasive, systematic structures of discrimination against African Americans. The Task Force completed its work and issued its final report in 2023. The report contains a number of recommended remedies the state could implement in order to atone for its decades of state-sanctioned white supremacy.

This bill is intended to implement two of the Task Force’s recommendations, by establishing the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery to oversee reparations programs, including by establishing a method for determining how a person can establish their status as a descendant eligible for reparations. Amendments taken in the Assembly clarify how the Bureau will adopt recommendations for establishing descendant status developed pursuant to SB 437 (Weber Pierson, 2025) and provide privacy protections for personal and genetic information provided to the Bureau. The bill’s implementation is contingent upon the Legislature’s appropriation of sufficient funding for the bill’s purpose.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, the fiscal effect is as follows:

1. Costs (General Fund, Legal Services Revolving Fund) to DOJ to establish and operate the Bureau, likely in the tens of millions of dollars annually at a minimum. DOJ provided this committee with a cost estimate for the May 23, 2025, version of this bill, which was substantively similar to the current version but did not contain the personal information provisions referenced in item 8, above. DOJ anticipated costs of approximately $11.3 million in fiscal year (FY) 2025-26, $20 million in FY 2026-29, and $18 million ongoing thereafter. These costs are largely for staffing; the department estimates it will need about 85 new staff positions spread across DOJ’s existing legal, information services, and research divisions to handle the workload required of the Bureau. DOJ’s estimate also includes substantial resources to establish an IT infrastructure for the Bureau. The department notes it requires delayed implementation until January 1, 2027, to accommodate hiring of legal staff and until January 1, 2030, to create IT systems.

This is likely a conservative estimate; actual costs to operate the Bureau may be higher, especially if additional reparative proposals for descendants of enslaved people are implemented in the future. As noted below, several such proposals are pending in the Legislature this session.

1. Costs (General Fund, special funds) of an unknown but likely significant amount to state entities to compensate dispossessed owners. Actual costs will depend on the number of claims substantiated by the Bureau; state workload associated with evaluating claims, providing information to the Bureau as required, and litigating claims; and the value of real property or monetary compensation ultimately awarded. In the aggregate, these costs may be in the tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars.

The following state entities reported costs as of the date this analysis was prepared:

• Department of Water Resources (DWR) anticipates costs above $5 million to search records upon request by potential dispossessed owners of property. DWR also notes the Department of General Services would charge the department approximately $12,000 per transaction in the event property is required to be returned to a dispossessed owner.
• State Parks anticipates costs around $2.5 million (General Fund) for 12 full time positions, including an archivist, analysts, attorneys, legal secretary, agents, and state historian. State Parks reports the state park system is comprised of over 1.6 million acres of land and began during an era of systemic discrimination; the department will need significant resources for staff with “expertise in history, archives, research, property, and law to locate, authenticate, and contextualize relevant historical documentation to ensure an objective evaluation” of property that may be subject to claims authorized by this bill. State Parks anticipates costs possibly in the tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation resulting from such claims.

1. Costs (local funds, General Fund) of an unknown but likely significant amount to local government entities for workload associated with evaluating claims, providing information to the Bureau as required, and litigating claims alleging racially motivated eminent domain. Local entities will also likely incur significant costs providing compensation to dispossessed owners. Local costs incurred to provide information to the Bureau may be reimbursed from the General Fund if the Commission on State Mandates determines those duties constitute a reimbursable state mandate. It is not clear whether the other local costs resulting from this bill may be reimbursable.
2. Costs (Trial Court Trust Fund, General Fund) of an unknown but potentially significant amount to the courts to adjudicate claims for compensation based on racially motivated eminent domain that are rejected by government entities. Actual costs to the courts will depend on the number of cases filed and the amount of time needed to adjudicate each case. It generally costs approximately $1,000 to operate a courtroom for one hour. Although courts are not funded on the basis of workload, increased pressure on the Trial Court Trust Fund may create a demand for increased funding for courts from the General Fund. The fiscal year 2025-26 state budget provides $82 million ongoing General Fund to the Trial Court Trust Fund for court operations.

SUPPORT: (Verified 9/9/25)

ACLU California Action

AdvancED Consulting, LLC

All Home

Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation and Truth

Alliance San Diego

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Civic Empowerment

Asian Law Alliance

BAPAC San Diego Chapter

Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative

Black Californians United for Early Care and Education

Black Equity Collective

Black Leadership Alliance Coalition

Black Women for Wellness Action Project

Black Women Organized for Political Action

Board of Supervisors for the City and County of San Francisco

Buena Vista Community Institute

Buena Vista United Methodist Church

California Black Housing Advisory Taskforce

California Black Power Network

California Faculty Association

Catalyst California

Center Against Racism & Trauma

CFT – A Union of Educators & Classified Professionals, AFT, AFL-CIO

Coalition for Justice and Accountability

Community Housing Development Corporation

Courage California

Don Tamaki, former Task Force Member

Dr. Cheryl Grills, former Task Force Member

Epworth Methodist Church Berkeley

Equal Justice Society

Equality California

Faith in the Valley

First Constitutional Church of Santa Barbara

Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce

Greater Sacramento Urban League

Impact Fund

Imperial Valley Equity & Justice

Japanese American Citizens League, Berkeley Chapter

Japanese American Citizens League, Eden Township Chapter

Japanese American Citizens League, Florin-Sacramento Valley Chapter

Japanese American Citizens League, San Jose Chapter

Lisa Holder, former Task Force Member

Live Free California

Multi-faith ACTION Coalition

NAACP California-Hawai’i Conference

North San Diego County Promise

Prevention Institute

Public Advocates

San Diego for Every Child

San Francisco Public Defender’s Office

Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice

Secure Justice

St. Columba Catholic Church

Western Center on law and Poverty

Where Is My Land

Five individuals

OPPOSITION: (Verified 9/9/25)

American Civil Rights Project

American Redress Coalition of California Bay Area

American Redress Coalition of California Sacramento

California Black Lineage Society

California Organizations for Reparations

Californians for Equal Rights Foundation

Coalition For A Just And Equitable California

Emend the Mass Media Group

Hyde Park Organizational Partnership for Empowerment

Lineage Equity and Advancement Project

New Frontier Democratic Club

Pacific Legal Foundation

San Francisco Bay Area Black & Jewish Unity Coalition

Five individuals

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the Equal Justice Society:

The Equal Justice Society (EJS) supports Senate Bill 518 (Weber-Pierson), which would establish the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery and require the bureau, as part of its duties, to determine how an individual’s status as a descendant would be confirmed. This bill is directly in line with the final recommendations put forth by the California Reparations Task Force, which called for measures that provide practical and meaningful steps to repair the damage caused by centuries of discrimination and systemic injustice…

We believe that reparations for descendants and the larger African American community as a group, should be impactful, transformative, long-lasting, and comprehensive in accordance with the United Nations’ (UN) five principles for reparations.

SB 518 is one of many crucial steps toward addressing the long-lasting and ongoing harms inflicted upon Descendants of U.S. Chattel Slavery and the larger African American community as a group.

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: According to the Lineage Equity and Advancement Project:

Firstly, SB 518 will significantly delay the implementation of policies intended to benefit descendants of enslaved persons. As written, the Bureau cannot begin its work until the completion of genealogy research mandated by SB 437 (Weber Pierson), a separate bill that directs millions of dollars toward unnecessary genealogical research, with no start date and no end date to the research. This indefinite timeline creates an open-ended delay, preventing any meaningful process in establishing eligibility criteria for administering benefits…

Additionally, SB 518 was drafted without meaningful input from grassroots California-based organizations and leaders who have long been engaged in advocating for Reparations and Reparative justice. Effective policy development requires the inclusion of voices from the communities directly impacted by historical injustices. By failing to incorporate the perspectives of these stakeholders in the legislative process, the bill risks implementing top-down solutions that do not fully address the needs, priorities, or concerns of the people it aims to serve, thereby perpetuating one of the harms that California’s Reparations Task Force cited as grounds for Reparative action: namely, political disenfranchisement.

Prepared by: Allison Whitt Meredith / JUD. / (916) 651-4113

9/9/25 12:35:10

**** END ****

SENATE THIRD READING

STR Bill Id:SB 518

Author:(Weber Pierson)

As Amended Ver:September 5, 2025

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within the Civil Rights Department to help carry out the recommendations of the Reparations Task Force.

Major Provisions

1. Establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery (Bureau) within the Civil Rights Department (CDR), under the direction of a deputy director of the CDR to be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senates. Requires the Bureau to establish a mission statement consistent with the recommendations of the Reparations Task Force and to verify an individual's status as a descendant, as defined.
2. Requires the Bureau to create a Genealogy Division and to verify an individual's status as a descendant, as defined. Specifies that proof of an individual descendant's status shall be a qualifying criterion for any benefits authorized by the state for descendants.
3. Requires the Genealogy Division to:
   1. Establish a process for individuals to request certification as a descendant of American slaves, as specified.
   2. Review and determine requests for certification as a descendant and establish a process for individuals to appeal a determination.
4. Defines "descendant," for purposes of the above, to mean individuals who can establish direct lineage to a person who, prior to 1900, was subjected to American chattel slavery and meets at least one of the following criteria:
   1. Was emancipated through legal or extralegal means, as specified.
   2. Obtained freedom through gradual abolition statutes or constitutional amendments.
   3. Was classified as a fugitive from bondage under federal or state law.
   4. Was deemed contraband by military authorities.
   5. Rendered military or civic service while subject to legal restrictions based on ancestry historically associated with slavery.
5. Requires the Bureau to create an Education and Outreach Division to develop and implement a public education campaign regarding the cycle of gentrification, displacement, and exclusion; the connection between redlining and gentrification; and the history of discriminatory urban planning in California.
6. Requires the Bureau to create a Legal Affairs Division to provide legal advice, counsel, and services to the Bureau and its officials; ensure that the Bureau's programs are administered in accordance with applicable legislative authority; and serve as an external liaison on legal matters with other state agencies and other entities.
7. Requires any nonpublic personal and genetic information held under the bureau's authority to be collected, held, and disclosed only as relevant and necessary to accomplish the purposes set forth in this bill.
8. Authorizes the Bureau to receive funds from any federal, state, or local grant, and from any nongovernmental entity as specified.

COMMENTS

Background: AB 3121 (Weber), Chapter 319, Statutes of 2020 created the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans (Task Force). The legislation required the Task Force to gather and synthesize the documentary evidence of slavery and its ongoing legacy in California, develop ways to educate Californians about its findings, and recommend appropriate remedies in a report to the Legislature. That report appeared in June of 2022. The first of the report's several policy recommendations called for the creation of an agency to oversee implementation of any Task Force recommendations that become law.

This bill seeks to realize this threshold Task Force recommendation by establishing a Bureau for Descendants of Slavery within the Civil Rights Department. As detailed below, the Bureau will consist of a Genealogy Division, a Property Reclamation Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Division. The bill requires the Bureau, as part of its duties, "to verify an individual's status as a descendant." The bill requires the Bureau to include four divisions: a Genealogy Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Division. Each division is discussed in turn below.

Genealogy Division. The Bureau's Genealogy Division will establish a process to certify "descendants," as defined, and create a method for descendants to submit claims for any benefits that may be authorized by the state. Specifies that any nonpublic personal and genetic information held under the bureau's authority to be collected, held, and disclosed only as relevant and necessary to accomplish the purposes set forth in this bill.

Education and Outreach Division. The Bureau's Education and Outreach Division will develop and implement a public education campaign on relevant topics, including the cycle of gentrification, displacement, exclusion, and discriminatory urban planning in California.

Legal Affairs Division. The Legal Affairs Division will provide legal advice, counsel, and services to the Bureau and its officials. Among other things, the Division will ensure that the Bureau's programs are administered in accordance with applicable legislative authority and serve as a liaison on legal matters with other state agencies.

According to the Author

Senate Bill 518 establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery to address and remedy the lasting harms inflicted on Black Californians. For generations, California upheld discriminatory policies and practices that denied Black residents access to land, wealth, education, and economic opportunity. From exclusionary housing practices to barriers in employment and healthcare, these policies created deep racial disparities that persist today. Building on the findings and recommendations of the California Reparations Task Force, SB 518 creates a state agency to verify lineage and facilitate access to reparative programs. By ensuring that descendants of enslaved people receive recognition and targeted benefits in housing, education, and economic opportunity, this bill takes a critical step toward dismantling institutional barriers and advancing justice for Black Californians.

Arguments in Support

The Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation, and Truth (ARRT) supports this bill because it is consistent with the recommendations of the Reparations Task Force and will "provide practical and meaningful steps to repair the damage caused by centuries of discrimination and systemic injustice." ARRT writes further:

SB 518 would establish the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within the Department of Justice, under the control of the director, who would be appointed by the Attorney General and confirmed by the Senate. This bill is one of many crucial steps toward addressing the long-lasting and ongoing harms inflicted upon descendants of U.S. Chattel Slavery and non-descendants. As a part of its duties, the Bureau would create four specialized divisions to begin the process of redress and repair.

While SB 518 alone is not enough to repair the harm caused by California's role in U.S. chattel slavery and its vestiges, as detailed in the final Reparations Task Force Report, its passage would be a significant step towards "satisfaction" and "guarantee of non-repetition" as defined under international human rights law. Harm cannot be repaired unless and until one acknowledges that it exists. This bill is an essential component of the broader effort to address the economic, social, and legal inequalities that continue to affect descendants and nondescendants.

Arguments in Opposition

The Pacific Legal Foundation writes in opposition:

As currently drafted, SB 518's eligibility criteria for receiving benefits from the Bureau would be subject to strict scrutiny and would probably not survive a legal challenge. Limiting eligibility for state benefits on the basis of race is a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution and would not satisfy the rigorous review that courts would apply.

The Supreme Court was clear in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181, 208 (2023), that the Constitution rarely tolerates race-based state action. And when it does, it is only within the confines of narrow restrictions. . . SB 518 is no exception.

All racial classifications must satisfy strict scrutiny. . . Although SB 518 uses ancestry to further narrow the eligible class of recipients (Black individuals are not eligible if they are not descended from enslaved persons or a free black individual living in the U.S. in the 1800's), strict scrutiny is no less applicable.

"Ancestry can be a proxy for race," and is used here "as a racial definition and for a racial purpose." (Rice, 528 U.S. at 515.) "Simply because a class defined by ancestry does not include all members of the race does not suffice to make the classification race neutral." Id.

The Coalition for a Just and Equitable California (CJEC) opposes this bill, albeit for quite different reasons than those given by the Pacific Legal Foundation. Instead, CJEC contends that the bill is inconsistent with recommendations of the Task Force and will only result in delays. CJEC writes:

While the bill claims to advance the cause of Reparations, its provisions are out of step with the recommendations of the California Reparations Task Force and raise significant concerns regarding privacy, scope, and implementation delays. California's first-in-the-nation Reparations Task Force recommended the creation of an independent state Agency to, in part, conduct a genealogy verification process to confirm Reparations eligibility for residents who believe they are descendants of people emancipated from Chattel slavery. . . SB 518, instead, creates a state Bureau that is dependent on (and embedded in) the California Department of Justice. By potentially housing sensitive genealogical data and personal records within the California Department of Justice—a law enforcement entity—this bill risks unnecessary exposure of private information.

Furthermore, SB 518 could also contribute to serious implementation delays. As written, although the proposed Bureau would be required to create an Office of Genealogy, that office may not be able to conduct any eligibility certification until the completion of research mandated by SB 437 (Weber-Pierson) . . . SB 518 cannot take effect in practice at least until the completion of the research in SB 437. . . Taken together, SB 518 and SB 437 effectively stall Reparative action, leaving impacted communities in limbo, and postponing justice once again for the very community this bill claims to serve.

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, costs (General Fund) to CRD, likely in the tens of millions of dollars annually, to establish the Bureau, operate the Bureau, and promulgate regulations.  These costs will cover new positions in the Bureau, supporting administration positions in CRD, IT infrastructure, and staff training and certification.  These costs may be offset to some extent by other federal, state, local, and private funds, which the bill authorizes the Bureau to receive.

VOTES

SENATE FLOOR: 28-10-2

YES: Allen, Archuleta, Arreguín, Ashby, Becker, Blakespear, Cabaldon, Caballero, Cervantes, Cortese, Durazo, Gonzalez, Grayson, Laird, Limón, McGuire, McNerney, Menjivar, Padilla, Pérez, Richardson, Rubio, Smallwood-Cuevas, Stern, Umberg, Wahab, Weber Pierson, Wiener

NO: Alvarado-Gil, Choi, Dahle, Grove, Jones, Niello, Ochoa Bogh, Seyarto, Strickland, Valladares

ABS, ABST OR NV: Hurtado, Reyes

ASM JUDICIARY: 9-3-0

YES: Kalra, Bauer-Kahan, Bryan, Connolly, Harabedian, Pacheco, Papan, Stefani, Zbur

NO: Dixon, Macedo, Sanchez

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 11-4-0

YES: Wicks, Arambula, Calderon, Caloza, Elhawary, Fong, Mark González, Ahrens, Pacheco, Pellerin, Solache

NO: Sanchez, Dixon, Ta, Tangipa

UPDATED

VERSION: September 5, 2025

CONSULTANT: Tom Clark / JUD. / (916) 319-2334 FN: 0001781

SENATE THIRD READING

STR Bill Id:SB 518

Author:(Weber Pierson)

As Amended Ver:September 02, 2025

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery to help carry out the recommendations of the Reparations Task Force.

Major Provisions

1. Establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery (Bureau) within the Civil Rights Department. Requires the Bureau to verify an individual's status as a descendant and require proof of an individual's descendant status as a qualifying criterion for benefits that may be authorized by the state. To accomplish these goals, the Bureau shall include the following divisions: a Genealogy Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Affairs Division.
2. Requires the Genealogy Division to do the following:
   1. Establish a process to certify descendants of American slaves.
   2. Create a method for eligible individuals to submit claims and receive compensation.
   3. Establish equitable alternative qualifying criterion where an individual's status as a descendant cannot be confirmed or proven.
   4. Support potential reparations claimants and assist individuals in verifying genealogical lineage by applying established evidence-based methodology to aid in determining eligibility.
3. Defines "descendant," for purposes of the above, to mean individuals who can establish direct lineage to a person who, prior to 1900, was subjected to American chattel slavery and meets at least one of the following criteria:
   1. Was emancipated through legal or extralegal means, as specified.
   2. Obtained freedom through gradual abolition statutes or constitutional amendments.
   3. Was classified as a fugitive from bondage under federal or state law.
   4. Was deemed contraband by military authorities.
   5. Rendered military or civic service while subject to legal restrictions based on ancestry historically associated with slavery.
4. Requires the Education and Outreach Division to develop and implement a public education campaign regarding the cycle of gentrification, displacement, and exclusion; the connection between redlining and gentrification; and the history of discriminatory urban planning in California.
5. Requires the Legal Affairs Division to provide legal advice, counsel, and services to the Bureau and its officials; ensure that the Bureau's programs are administered in accordance with applicable legislative authority; serve as an external liaison on legal matters with other state agencies and other entities; and conduct a review of past and current laws, as well as proposed legislation, to determine whether those measures have caused, are causing, or may continue to cause harm.
6. Requires any nonpublic personal and genetic information held under the bureau's authority to be collected, held, and disclosed only as relevant and necessary to accomplish the purposes set forth in this bill.
7. Authorizes the Bureau to receive funds from any federal, state, or local grant, and from any nongovernmental entity as specified.

COMMENTS

Background: AB 3121 (Weber), Chapter 319, Statutes of 2020 created the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans (Task Force). The legislation required the Task Force to gather and synthesize the documentary evidence of slavery and its ongoing legacy in California, develop ways to educate Californians about its findings, and recommend appropriate remedies in a report to the Legislature. That report appeared in June of 2022. The first of the report's several policy recommendations called for the creation of an agency to oversee implementation of any Task Force recommendations that become law.

This bill seeks to realize this threshold Task Force recommendation by establishing a Bureau for Descendants of Slavery within the Civil Rights Department. As detailed below, the Bureau will consist of a Genealogy Division, a Property Reclamation Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Division. The bill requires the Bureau, as part of its duties, "to verify an individual's status as a descendant." The bill requires the Bureau to include four divisions: a Genealogy Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Division. Each division is discussed in turn below.

Genealogy Division. The Bureau's Genealogy Division will establish a process to certify "descendants," as defined, and create a method for descendants to submit claims for any benefits that may be authorized by the state. Specifies that any nonpublic personal and genetic information held under the bureau's authority to be collected, held, and disclosed only as relevant and necessary to accomplish the purposes set forth in this bill.

Education and Outreach Division. The Bureau's Education and Outreach Division will develop and implement a public education campaign on relevant topics, including the cycle of gentrification, displacement, exclusion, and discriminatory urban planning in California.

Legal Affairs Division. The Legal Affairs Division will provide legal advice, counsel, and services to the Bureau and its officials. Among other things, the Division will ensure that the Bureau's programs are administered in accordance with applicable legislative authority and serve as a liaison on legal matters with other state agencies.

According to the Author

Senate Bill 518 establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery to address and remedy the lasting harms inflicted on Black Californians. For generations, California upheld discriminatory policies and practices that denied Black residents access to land, wealth, education, and economic opportunity. From exclusionary housing practices to barriers in employment and healthcare, these policies created deep racial disparities that persist today. Building on the findings and recommendations of the California Reparations Task Force, SB 518 creates a state agency to verify lineage and facilitate access to reparative programs. By ensuring that descendants of enslaved people receive recognition and targeted benefits in housing, education, and economic opportunity, this bill takes a critical step toward dismantling institutional barriers and advancing justice for Black Californians.

Arguments in Support

The Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation, and Truth (ARRT) supports this bill because it is consistent with the recommendations of the Reparations Task Force and will "provide practical and meaningful steps to repair the damage caused by centuries of discrimination and systemic injustice." ARRT writes further:

SB 518 would establish the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within the Department of Justice, under the control of the director, who would be appointed by the Attorney General and confirmed by the Senate. This bill is one of many crucial steps toward addressing the long-lasting and ongoing harms inflicted upon descendants of U.S. Chattel Slavery and non-descendants. As a part of its duties, the Bureau would create four specialized divisions to begin the process of redress and repair.

While SB 518 alone is not enough to repair the harm caused by California's role in U.S. chattel slavery and its vestiges, as detailed in the final Reparations Task Force Report, its passage would be a significant step towards "satisfaction" and "guarantee of non-repetition" as defined under international human rights law. Harm cannot be repaired unless and until one acknowledges that it exists. This bill is an essential component of the broader effort to address the economic, social, and legal inequalities that continue to affect descendants and nondescendants.

Arguments in Opposition

The Pacific Legal Foundation writes in opposition:

As currently drafted, SB 518's eligibility criteria for receiving benefits from the Bureau would be subject to strict scrutiny and would probably not survive a legal challenge. Limiting eligibility for state benefits on the basis of race is a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution and would not satisfy the rigorous review that courts would apply.

The Supreme Court was clear in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181, 208 (2023), that the Constitution rarely tolerates race-based state action. And when it does, it is only within the confines of narrow restrictions. . . SB 518 is no exception.

All racial classifications must satisfy strict scrutiny. . . Although SB 518 uses ancestry to further narrow the eligible class of recipients (Black individuals are not eligible if they are not descended from enslaved persons or a free black individual living in the U.S. in the 1800's), strict scrutiny is no less applicable.

"Ancestry can be a proxy for race," and is used here "as a racial definition and for a racial purpose." (Rice, 528 U.S. at 515.) "Simply because a class defined by ancestry does not include all members of the race does not suffice to make the classification race neutral." Id.

The Coalition for a Just and Equitable California (CJEC) opposes this bill, albeit for quite different reasons than those given by the Pacific Legal Foundation. Instead, CJEC contends that the bill is inconsistent with recommendations of the Task Force and will only result in delays. CJEC writes:

While the bill claims to advance the cause of Reparations, its provisions are out of step with the recommendations of the California Reparations Task Force and raise significant concerns regarding privacy, scope, and implementation delays. California's first-in-the-nation Reparations Task Force recommended the creation of an independent state Agency to, in part, conduct a genealogy verification process to confirm Reparations eligibility for residents who believe they are descendants of people emancipated from Chattel slavery. . . SB 518, instead, creates a state Bureau that is dependent on (and embedded in) the California Department of Justice. By potentially housing sensitive genealogical data and personal records within the California Department of Justice—a law enforcement entity—this bill risks unnecessary exposure of private information.

Furthermore, SB 518 could also contribute to serious implementation delays. As written, although the proposed Bureau would be required to create an Office of Genealogy, that office may not be able to conduct any eligibility certification until the completion of research mandated by SB 437 (Weber-Pierson) . . . SB 518 cannot take effect in practice at least until the completion of the research in SB 437. . . Taken together, SB 518 and SB 437 effectively stall Reparative action, leaving impacted communities in limbo, and postponing justice once again for the very community this bill claims to serve.

FISCAL COMMENTS

According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, costs (General Fund) to CRD, likely in the tens of millions of dollars annually, to establish and operate the Bureau. CRD estimates costs of $14.5 million for the first year and $11.5 million ongoing for new positions in the Bureau, supporting administration positions, additional costs related to hiring new staff, and IT costs for establishing a genealogical database and facilitating the verification process, and costs related to staff training and certification for archival research. CRD based its fiscal estimate on the assumption that the Bureau will receive approximately 200 requests for verification of descendant status per year. If CRD receives more requests for verification, CRD anticipates requesting additional resources in the future.

These costs may be offset to some extent by other federal, state, local, and private funds, which the bill authorizes the Bureau to receive.

VOTES

SENATE FLOOR: 28-10-2

YES: Allen, Archuleta, Arreguín, Ashby, Becker, Blakespear, Cabaldon, Caballero, Cervantes, Cortese, Durazo, Gonzalez, Grayson, Laird, Limón, McGuire, McNerney, Menjivar, Padilla, Pérez, Richardson, Rubio, Smallwood-Cuevas, Stern, Umberg, Wahab, Weber Pierson, Wiener

NO: Alvarado-Gil, Choi, Dahle, Grove, Jones, Niello, Ochoa Bogh, Seyarto, Strickland, Valladares

ABS, ABST OR NV: Hurtado, Reyes

ASM JUDICIARY: 9-3-0

YES: Kalra, Bauer-Kahan, Bryan, Connolly, Harabedian, Pacheco, Papan, Stefani, Zbur

NO: Dixon, Macedo, Sanchez

ASM APPROPRIATIONS: 11-4-0

YES: Wicks, Arambula, Calderon, Caloza, Elhawary, Fong, Mark González, Ahrens, Pacheco, Pellerin, Solache

NO: Sanchez, Dixon, Ta, Tangipa

UPDATED

VERSION: September 02, 2025

CONSULTANT: Tom Clark / JUD. / (916) 319-2334 FN: 0001334

Date of Hearing: July 16, 2025

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Buffy Wicks, Chair

SBPCA Bill Id:SB 518

Author:(Weber Pierson) – As Amended Ver:July 3, 2025

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: Yes

SUMMARY:

This bill establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery (Bureau) to address the harms described in and advise on reparative remedies guided by the final report of the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans (Task Force).

Specifically, among other provisions, this bill:

1. Establishes the Bureau within the Department of Justice (DOJ) and:
   1. Requires the Bureau to be under the direct control of a director who is appointed by and responsible to the Attorney General.
   2. Establishes three divisions within the Bureau: a Genealogy Division, a Property Reclamation Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Affairs Division.
2. Requires the Bureau to verify a person’s status as a descendant and require proof of a person’s descendant status as a qualifying criterion for benefits that may be authorized by the state.
3. Defines a “descendant” as a person who can establish direct lineage to a person who, prior to 1900, was subjected to American chattel slavery and meets other specified criteria.
4. Requires the Genealogy Division to, among other specified responsibilities, establish a process to certify descendants of American slaves and create a method for eligible individuals to submit claims and receive compensation.
5. Requires the Property Reclamation Division to, among other specified responsibilities, research and document state properties acquired as a result of racially motivated eminent domain and review and investigate public complaints from people who claim their property was taken for racially motivated reasons and without just compensation.
6. Establishes procedures by which a person whose property was taken by racially motivated eminent domain (a “dispossessed owner”), as certified by the Property Reclamation Division, may seek and obtain compensation from a state or local entity, including by bringing a claim under the Government Claims Act.
7. Requires the Education and Outreach Division to develop and implement a public education campaign on specified topics.
8. Requires the Legal Affairs Division to, among other responsibilities, provide legal advice, counsel, and services to the Bureau and its officials; serve as an external liaison on legal matters with other state agencies and other entities; and review past laws, current laws, and proposed legislation.
9. Establishes procedures the Bureau must follow in collecting, maintaining, and disclosing nonpublic personal and genetic information.
10. Specifies implementation of the bill’s provisions shall be contingent on an appropriation of sufficient funding by the Legislature.

FISCAL EFFECT:

1. Costs (General Fund, Legal Services Revolving Fund) to DOJ to establish and operate the Bureau, likely in the tens of millions of dollars annually at a minimum. DOJ provided this committee with a cost estimate for the May 23, 2025, version of this bill, which was substantively similar to the current version but did not contain the personal information provisions referenced in item 8, above. DOJ anticipated costs of approximately $11.3 million in fiscal year (FY) 2025-26, $20 million in FY 2026-29, and $18 million ongoing thereafter. These costs are largely for staffing; the department estimates it will need about 85 new staff positions spread across DOJ’s existing legal, information services, and research divisions to handle the workload required of the Bureau. DOJ’s estimate also includes substantial resources to establish an IT infrastructure for the Bureau. The department notes it requires delayed implementation until January 1, 2027, to accommodate hiring of legal staff and until January 1, 2030, to create IT systems.

This is likely a conservative estimate; actual costs to operate the Bureau may be higher, especially if additional reparative proposals for descendants of enslaved people are implemented in the future. As noted below, several such proposals are pending in the Legislature this session.

1. Costs (General Fund, special funds) of an unknown but likely significant amount to state entities to compensate dispossessed owners. Actual costs will depend on the number of claims substantiated by the Bureau; state workload associated with evaluating claims, providing information to the Bureau as required, and litigating claims; and the value of real property or monetary compensation ultimately awarded. In the aggregate, these costs may be in the tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars.

The following state entities reported costs as of the date this analysis was prepared:

• Department of Water Resources (DWR) anticipates costs above $5 million to search records upon request by potential dispossessed owners of property. DWR also notes the Department of General Services would charge the department approximately $12,000 per transaction in the event property is required to be returned to a dispossessed owner.
• State Parks anticipates costs around $2.5 million (General Fund) for 12 full time positions, including an archivist, analysts, attorneys, legal secretary, agents, and state historian. State Parks reports the state park system is comprised of over 1.6 million acres of land and began during an era of systemic discrimination; the department will need significant resources for staff with “expertise in history, archives, research, property, and law to locate, authenticate, and contextualize relevant historical documentation to ensure an objective evaluation” of property that may be subject to claims authorized by this bill. State Parks anticipates costs possibly in the tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation resulting from such claims.

1. Costs (local funds, General Fund) of an unknown but likely significant amount to local government entities for workload associated with evaluating claims, providing information to the Bureau as required, and litigating claims alleging racially motivated eminent domain. Local entities will also likely incur significant costs providing compensation to dispossessed owners. Local costs incurred to provide information to the Bureau may be reimbursed from the General Fund if the Commission on State Mandates determines those duties constitute a reimbursable state mandate. It is not clear whether the other local costs resulting from this bill may be reimbursable.
2. Costs (Trial Court Trust Fund, General Fund) of an unknown but potentially significant amount to the courts to adjudicate claims for compensation based on racially motivated eminent domain that are rejected by government entities. Actual costs to the courts will depend on the number of cases filed and the amount of time needed to adjudicate each case. It generally costs approximately $1,000 to operate a courtroom for one hour. Although courts are not funded on the basis of workload, increased pressure on the Trial Court Trust Fund may create a demand for increased funding for courts from the General Fund. The fiscal year 2025-26 state budget provides $82 million ongoing General Fund to the Trial Court Trust Fund for court operations.

COMMENTS:

1. Background. AB 3121 (Weber), Chapter 319, Statutes of 2020, established the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States (“Task Force”) to explore options for providing reparations to African Americans, and particularly the descendants of enslaved persons, in recognition of California’s role in slavery and the post-abolition perpetuation of racist institutions. In June 2023, the Task Force issued its final report to the Legislature. The report includes detailed information about the horrors of slavery, the ongoing harms experienced by African Americans as a result of slavery, and the Task Force’s reparations proposals. The Task Force’s reparations proposals include a number of specific policy recommendations that relate to racial terror, political disenfranchisement, separate and unequal education, and racism in environment and infrastructure, among other topics.
2. Purpose. According to the author:

Building on the findings and recommendations of the California Reparations Task Force, SB 518 creates a state agency to verify lineage and facilitate access to reparative programs. By ensuring that descendants of enslaved people receive recognition and targeted benefits in housing, education, and economic opportunity, this bill takes a critical step toward dismantling institutional barriers and advancing justice for Black Californians.

The author’s office has informed this committee the author is considering amendments to house the Bureau within another state entity, in part due to concerns about legal conflicts between DOJ’s work defending state agencies in litigation and the Bureau’s mission to facilitate claims by dispossessed owners against government agencies.

1. Related Legislation. AB 7 (Bryan) authorizes California postsecondary educational institutions to consider providing a preference in admissions to an applicant who is a descendant of slavery. AB 7 is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

AB 62 (McKinnor) requires an unspecified state agency to review and act on applications from members of the public seeking compensation for land taken by racially motivated eminent domain. AB 62 is pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

SB 437 (Weber Pierson) authorizes funding for the California State University to conduct research in furtherance of the Task Force’s recommendations and establish a process for confirming a person’s status as a descendant of an enslaved person. SB 417 is pending in this committee.

1. Prior Legislation. SB 1403 (Bradford), of the 2023-24 Legislative Session, would have created the California American Freedmen Agency for the purpose of implementing reparations proposals. SB 1403 died on the Assembly inactive file.

Analysis Prepared by: Annika Carlson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: July 1, 2025

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY

Ash Kalra, Chair

SBPCA Bill Id:SB 518

Author:(Weber Pierson) – As Amended Ver:June 16, 2025

As Proposed to be Amended

SENATE VOTE: 28-10

SUBJECT: Descendants of enslaved persons: reparations

KEY ISSUE: Should California establish a Bureau for the Descendants of Slavery in oRdER to advance the recommendations of the reparations Task Force and verify an individual’s status as a descendant of American chattel slavery?

SYNOPSIS

Fifty-seven years ago, the late historian John Hope Franklin, a distinguished pioneer in the field of African American History, wrote the following: “If the house is to be set in order, one cannot begin with the present; he must begin with the past.” (John Hope Franklin, “Rediscovering Black America,” New York Times, September 8, 1968). With AB 3121 (Chap. 319, Stats. 2020), California belatedly confronted parts of its past and created the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans (Task Force). AB 3121 required the Task Force to gather and synthesize the documentary evidence of slavery and its ongoing legacy in California, develop ways to educate Californians about its findings, and recommend appropriate remedies in a report to the Legislature. The 1100-page report appeared in June of 2022. The first of the report’s several policy recommendations called for the creation of an agency to oversee implementation of any Task Force recommendations that become law.

This bill seeks to realize this threshold Task Force recommendation by establishing a Bureau for Descendants of Slavery within the Department of Justice. The Bureau will consist of a Genealogy Division, a Property Reclamation Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Division. The Genealogy Division will establish a process to certify descendants and create a method for them to submit claims for any benefits that may be authorized by the state. Another important recommendation of the Task Force called for compensation for persons who were dispossessed by racially motivated eminent domain. Under this bill, the Bureau’s Property Reclamation Division seeks to further that goal by collecting data on relevant properties and accepting applications from dispossessed owners, or their direct descendants. The Education and Outreach division will implement a public education campaign, while the Legal Affairs Division will provide legal advice and related services to the Bureau.

This bill, a priority measure of the California Black Legislative Caucus, is supported by a large coalition of civil rights groups and reparation advocates. Opponents fall into two camps: those who oppose the principle of reparations on philosophical or constitutional grounds, and those who contend that the bill falls short of the Task Force recommendations. The author will take an amendment in this Committee. The amendment is reflected in the summary below and discussed in the analysis.

SUMMARY: Establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery to help carry out the recommendations of the Reparations Task Force. Specifically, this bill:

1. Establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery (Bureau) within the Department of Justice, under the control of the director, who would be appointed by the Attorney General and confirmed by the Senate. Requires the Bureau to verify an individual’s status as a descendant and require proof of an individual’s descendant status as a qualifying criterion for benefits that may be authorized by the state. To accomplish these goals, the Bureau shall include the following divisions: a Genealogy Division, a Property Reclamation Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Affairs Division.
2. Requires the Genealogy Division to do the following:
   1. Establish a process to certify descendants of American slaves.
   2. Create a method for eligible individuals to submit claims and receive compensation.
   3. Establish equitable alternative qualifying criterion where an individual’s status as a descendant cannot be confirmed or proven.
   4. Support potential reparations claimants and assist individuals in verifying genealogical lineage by applying established evidence-based methodology to aid in determining eligibility.
3. Defines “descendant,” for purposes of the above, to mean individuals who can establish direct lineage to a person who, prior to 1900, was subjected to American chattel slavery and meets at least one of the following criteria:
   1. Was emancipated through legal or extralegal means, as specified.
   2. Obtained freedom through gradual abolition statutes or constitutional amendments.
   3. Was classified as a fugitive from bondage under federal or state law.
   4. Was deemed contraband by military authorities.
   5. Rendered military or civic service while subject to legal restrictions based on ancestry historically associated with slavery.
4. Requires the Property Reclamation Division to research and document California state properties acquired as a result of racially motivated eminent domain, including properties that no longer exist due to state highway construction or other developments, and to create a database identifying such properties. The Division would also review and investigate public complaints from people who claim their property was taken for racially motivated reasons and without just compensation. The bill also sets forth detailed procedures by which a person may seek a determination that they are a “dispossessed owner” and that they seek the return of the taken property, other property of equal value, or financial compensation.
5. Defines “dispossessed owner” for purposes of 4) above to mean a person who has had property taken from them as a result of racially motivated eminent domain or is a direct descendant of the person whose property was taken.
6. Requires the Education and Outreach Division to develop and implement a public education campaign regarding the cycle of gentrification, displacement, and exclusion; the connection between redlining and gentrification; and the history of discriminatory urban planning in California.
7. Requires the Legal Affairs Division to provide legal advice, counsel, and services to the Bureau and its officials; ensure that the Bureau’s programs are administered in accordance with applicable legislative authority; serve as an external liaison on legal matters with other state agencies and other entities; and conduct a review of past and current laws, as well as proposed legislation, to determine whether those measures have caused, are causing, or may continue to cause harm.
8. Requires any nonpublic personal and genetic information held under the bureau’s authority to be collected, held, and disclosed only as relevant and necessary to accomplish the purposes set forth in this bill. Specifies that before asking applicants to provide information, the bureau shall inform the individual about how the collected information will be used, the reason for soliciting the information, and the effects on the individual, if any, of not providing all or part of the information.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Prohibits the State from discriminating against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group because of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. (California Constitution Article I, Section 31.)
2. Established, under former law, the Task Force To Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans, with Special Consideration for African Americans Descended from Persons Enslaved in the United States (Task Force), and provided that the Task Force statute would remain in effect until July 1, 2023, and as of that date be repealed. (Former Government Code Sections 8301-8301.7, repealed by Section 8301.7.)

FISCAL EFFECT: As currently in print this bill is keyed fiscal.

COMMENTS: According to the author:

Senate Bill 518 establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery to address and remedy the lasting harms inflicted on Black Californians. For generations, California upheld discriminatory policies and practices that denied Black residents access to land, wealth, education, and economic opportunity. From exclusionary housing practices to barriers in employment and healthcare, these policies created deep racial disparities that persist today.

Building on the findings and recommendations of the California Reparations Task Force, SB 518 creates a state agency to verify lineage and facilitate access to reparative programs. By ensuring that descendants of enslaved people receive recognition and targeted benefits in housing, education, and economic opportunity, this bill takes a critical step toward dismantling institutional barriers and advancing justice for Black Californians.

Background: Fifty-seven years ago the late historian John Hope Franklin, a distinguished pioneer in the field of African American History, wrote the following: “If the house is to be set in order, one cannot begin with the present; he must begin with the past.” (John Hope Franklin, “Rediscovering Black America,” New York Times, September 8, 1968). With AB 3121 (Chap. 319, Stats. 2020), California belatedly confronted parts of its past and created the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans (Task Force). The legislation required the Task Force to gather and synthesize the documentary evidence of slavery and its ongoing legacy in California, develop ways to educate Californians about its findings, and recommend appropriate remedies in a report to the Legislature. That report appeared in June of 2022. The first of the report’s several policy recommendations called for the creation of an agency to oversee implementation of any Task Force recommendations that become law.

This bill seeks to realize this threshold Task Force recommendation by establishing a Bureau for Descendants of Slavery within the Department of Justice. As detailed below, the Bureau will consist of a Genealogy Division, a Property Reclamation Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Division. The next part of this analysis provides historical context on the long road leading to the creation of the Task Force, as it speaks to the broader purpose and historical significance of SB 518 and related legislation. Some of this material comes from this Committee’s analysis of AB 3121. Those familiar with this background may skip ahead to the more immediate context that begins of page 6 of this analysis.

The Long History of Reparation Proposals. Although a 2014 article by Ta-Nehisi Coates (“The Case for Reparations,” Atlantic, June 2014) revived the debate about reparations for the descendants of enslaved Americans, arguments in favor of reparations have a long history, pre-dating even the Civil War and emancipation. As early as 1783, an enslaved women known only as Belinda petitioned the Massachusetts General Court for a “pension” from the estate of her former master, Isaac Royall. A British loyalist, the aptly named Isaac Royall fled the colonies for England at the outbreak of the American Revolution. In 1778 Massachusetts confiscated Royall’s real property (as they did with Loyalists) and manumitted his slaves. Massachusetts granted the manumitted Belinda her request. When the estate failed to make payments as promised, Belinda petitioned the state in 1787 and again in 1790. Unfortunately, we do not know what became of Belinda and her award after that, but as the historian Roy Finkenbine writes, her petition “achieved a life of its own,” as it was reproduced in the early 19^th century by abolitionists in the United States and England, who invoked Belinda’s logic: she was owed a part of Royall’s wealth because her unpaid labor had created it. (Roy Finkenbine, “Belinda’s Petition: Reparations for Slavery in Revolutionary Massachusetts,” William and Mary Quarterly, 3d Series (2007): 95-104.)

Antebellum religious leaders, abolitionists, and Northern Free Black communities continued to call for compensation. For example, an 1810 sermon by Timothy Dwight, the President of Yale College, advocated for reparations for former slaves. In response to Northerners who might claim that they personally had not been involved with the early slave trade, Dwight had an answer:

It is in vain to allege that our ancestors brought them [Africans] hither, and not we . . . We inherit our ample patrimony and all of its encumbrances; and we are bound to pay the debts of our ancestors. This debt, particularly, we are bound to discharge; and when the righteous Judge of the Universe comes to reckon with his servants, he will rigidly exact the payment at our hands. To give them liberty, and stop here, is to entail upon them a curse. (Timothy Dwight, The Charitable Blessed: A Sermon Preached in the First Church in New Haven, August 8, 1810 (New Haven: 1810), 22-23, as quoted in Finkenbine, supra, 104.)

While our secular world may no longer fear the wrath of the Judge of the Universe, the other points in Dwight’s sermon are quite relevant to the current debate over reparation. First, Dwight argued that it is no defense to claim that slavery was the work of “our ancestors,” because all of us have enjoyed the wealth, or “ample patrimony,” produced by slavery. Other antebellum reformers maintained that emancipation by itself was not enough to redress the wrongs of slavery. A Black abolitionist, Hosea Easton, writing in 1837, maintained that any fair plan would need “to restore to [the formerly enslaved] all that slavery has taken away from them. Merely to cease beating the colored people, and leave them to their gore, and call it emancipation, is nonsense.” David Walker’s radical abolitionist tract, Appeal to the Colored Citizens of the World (1829) argued that, in addition to the economic debt owed to the formerly enslaved, African Americans were owed “a national acknowledgement . . . for the wrongs they [whites] have inflicted upon us.” (See Lynda Morgan, “Reparations and History,” Journal of African American History 99 (Fall 2014): 403-426; Finkenbine, supra, 103-104.) Today’s calls for reparations are similarly about more than an economic reckoning; they are also an acknowledgement for wrongs committed.

From “Forty Acres and Mule” to the Ex-Slave Pension Movements: Perhaps the most significant efforts to compensate formerly enslaved persons for years of unpaid labor were the land reforms proposed in the immediate wake of emancipation, offering “Forty Acres and a Mule” to each freedmen. As the Union Army occupied parts of the South it found itself in possession of plantations that had been abandoned by their owners. The formerly enslaved who were not recruited into the Union Army were sometimes allowed to work plots of land, often forty acres. Most famously, General William T. Sherman’s “Special Field Order No. 15” would have provided for the confiscation of abandoned lands in the Sea Islands off South Carolina and elsewhere in South Carolina, Georgia, and Northern Florida. While some freedmen obtained a forty acre plot in this manner, President Andrew Johnson, who took office upon Lincoln’s assassination, overturned Sherman’s order and restored the lands for their former enslavers. [See Eric Foner, A Short History of Reconstruction (New York: 1990), pp. 71-78.]

The failure of land reform and the broken promise of “forty acres and a mule” did not end calls for reparations. In the late 19th century, African Americans formed numerous “mutual benefit” associations to help each other in hard times. Some of these associations also began to lobby Congress to enact “ex-slave pensions” for former slaves and their immediate offspring. The movement appears to have been inspired at least in part by the dramatic expansion of Civil War pensions to widows and children of former Union soldiers. If the federal government could provide pensions to the Union soldiers, and their widows and children, then it seemed just and reasonable to provide pensions to former slaves and their families for the unpaid labor that built a substantial part of the nation’s wealth.

The Failure of Litigation as an Argument in Favor of Reparations: While movements for reparations have typically lobbied legislative bodies to provide compensation or establish programs that seek restorative justice, another track has used litigation in an attempt to obtain redress from persons, businesses, corporations, and other institutions that profited from slavery. In some cases, litigants have attempted to obtain damages for specific incidents, identifying specific plaintiffs harmed by specific defendants, such as the lawsuit against local agencies in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for the Tulsa riot of 1921, in which hundreds of African Americans were killed and homes and businesses destroyed. However, in Alexander v. Oklahoma (2004) 382 F.3d 1206, a federal appellate court affirmed a district court ruling dismissing the claims as time-barred. While the lawsuit may have failed legally, it may have succeeded politically. Earlier this year, the Mayor of Tulsa announced a plan to redress the harms. The proposal, known as the “Road to Repair,” establishes Greenwood Trust, named for the Tulsa neighborhood and business district (also known as “Black Wall Street”) targeted in the riots. The trust will manage $105 million in assets, some of which would also go into a legacy fund to acquire and develop land. (“105 Million Reparations Package for Tulsa Race Massacre Unveiled by Mayor,” New York Times, June 1, 2025.)

Unfortunately, not all litigation has produced positive results. Most litigation has failed for many reasons, including the running of statutes of limitation, the inability of descendants to establish legal “standing” to sue, or simply the inability of litigants, after so many years, to establish a causal nexus between the plaintiff’s harm and the defendant’s wrongdoing. What these failures may demonstrate is that litigation is not the most fruitful avenue for seeking reparations, especially when they lead to negative legal precedents. Critics of reparations have made arguments that echo those made by the courts when dismissing actions. For example, they note the difficulty of identifying victims and perpetrators or establishing the requisite causal nexus for events long since passed. However, one could argue that these difficulties are not so much an argument against reparations as they are an argument against using a litigation strategy. Precisely because the injustices are not easily subject to judicial remedies, it might be up to the representative branches of government to take the lead.

The Present Debate and the Task Force: The recent attention to reparations is largely attributable to Ta-Nehisi Coates compelling article, “The Case for Reparations,” in the June, 2014 issue of the Atlantic. Although Coates’ article certainly did not ignore the era of slavery and Jim Crow, the bulk of his article focused on Chicago in the years following World War II, when the policies of private lenders, insurance companies, and the federal government frustrated the efforts of African Americans to obtain the primary means of middle class and the inter-generational transfer of wealth: home ownership. In addition, these policies perpetuated the problems of “white flight,” which carried sources of revenue to white suburbs while allowing the increasingly African American cities to suffer from want of municipal services. Coates relates the stories of several African Americans who through hope, faith, hard work, and perseverance managed to become home owners against all odds. Behind the handful of success stories, however, were many more about those who lost their homes, as well as any equity that they would have earned if they had been able to obtain a mortgage. Coates highlights many of themes outlined in the history described above: that the legacy of slavery is not merely a matter of oppression but of “theft;” that the theft did not end with emancipation, but continued well into the 20^th century and even into our own times. Therefore, he concludes, it will be difficult to heal the wounds of the past without some form of acknowledgement and restorative justice.

AB 3121 and the Reparations Task Force. With AB 3121 (Chap. 319, Stats. 2020), California belatedly confronted parts of its past and created the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans (Task Force). The legislation required the Task Force to gather and synthesize the documentary evidence of slavery and its ongoing legacy in California, develop ways to educate Californians about its findings, and recommend appropriate remedies in a report to the Legislature. The more than 1000-page Task Force report details both the past and continuing legacy of California laws and policy designed to prevent African Americans in California from enjoying the full benefits of their citizenship. (California Reparations Report (Report), “Executive Summary,” p. 48.) The first 13 chapters of the Report identify a breathtaking range of laws and policies that have harmed African Americans: enslavement, racial terror, political disfranchisement, housing segregation, separate and unequal education, employment discrimination, and an unjust legal system that has led to unconscionable rates of incarceration for Black Californians.

After laying out these findings of harm, the middle parts of the Report examine international approaches to reparations and healing, from Germany, Chile, and South Africa, among others. These remedies can take the form of restitution, economic compensation, or programs of “rehabilitation,” which might include an array of legal and social services or educational programs. Reparations is not only a matter of writing checks.

The concluding chapters of the Report set forth a robust set of recommendations, starting with a formal apology and acknowledgment of wrongs done by the state. Because “apologies alone are inadequate reparations for victims,” the Report makes several concrete policy recommendations designed to provide true reparations for the documented harms. As the Report stresses on more than one occasion, the harms inflicted “have not been incidental or accidental,” but were often the intentional result of “an all-encompassing web of discriminatory laws, regulations, and policies enacted by government.” Therefore, addressing these wrongs will require changes in existing laws and the disruption of institutionalized patterns of racism.

In order to oversee the process, the Task Force called for the establishment of a California American Freedmen Affairs Agency (Agency). In the 2023-2024 session, Senator Steven Bradford introduced two bills– SB 490 in 2023, and SB 1403 in 2024 – attempting to create such an agency. While SB 490 never received a hearing in the Assembly, SB 1403 passed out of this Committee as well as the Assembly Appropriations Committee; it died on the Assembly Floor late in the session. SB 1403 would have required the Agency to implement Task Force recommendations, in part, by overseeing and monitoring existing agencies tasked with carrying out specific policies. The Agency was to include, among other things, a Genealogy Office that would “support potential reparations claimants by providing access to expert genealogical research to confirm reparations eligibility and expedited assistance with the reparations claims process.” (Report, chapter 18, p. 636.)

Bureau for Descendants of Slavery. SB 518, the bill now before the Committee, similarly seeks to create an agency that will address the harms identified in the Task Force Report and implement its recommendations. It does so by establishing a Bureau for Descendants of Slavery within the Department of Justice. While the legislative intent language indicates that the scope and responsibilities of the Bureau may expand as necessary to fulfill its mission, the bill in print requires the Bureau, as part of its duties, “to verify an individual’s status as a descendant.” This verification will be critical, as this bill makes proof of an individual’s descendant status a qualification for any benefits that may be authorized by the state. The bill requires the Bureau to include four divisions: a Genealogy Division, a Property Reclamation Division, an Education and Outreach Division, and a Legal Division. Each division is discussed in turn below.

Genealogy Division. The Bureau’s Genealogy Division will establish a process to certify “descendants,” as defined, and create a method for descendants to submit claims for any benefits that may be authorized by the state. The bill also recognizes the reality of lost or incomplete documentation by requiring the Bureau establish “alternative qualifying criterion” in cases where a person’s status cannot otherwise be proven. Finally, as proposed to be amended in this Committee, the bill requires the Bureau to support potential reparations claimants and assist them in verifying genealogical lineage by applying an established evidence-based methodology.

The process described above hinges to a large extent of the meaning of “descendant,” which the bill defines as an individual who can establish direct lineage to a person who, prior to 1900, was subjected to American chattel slavery, “and where [the ancestor] meets one of the following criteria:”

• Was emancipated through legal or extralegal means, as specified.
• Obtained freedom through gradual abolition statutes or constitutional amendments.
• Was classified as a fugitive from bondage under federal or state law.
• Was deemed contraband by military authorities.
• Rendered military or civic service while subject to legal restrictions based on ancestry historically associated with slavery.

The author may wish to consider whether the “and” in the existing language should be an “or.” That is, if the claimant can establish direct lineage to a person who was subjected to American chattel slavery, why would they also need to meet one of the additional criteria?

Property Reclamation Division. Consistent with the recommendations of the Task Force, the Bureau will also include a Property Reclamation Division to address the injustices of racially discriminatory eminent domain. As documented in several histories cited in the Task Force Report, California has a long and well-documented history of racially discriminatory uses of eminent domain by both state and local government. In California, as throughout the nation, urban renewal and highway construction projects disproportionately impacted African American communities, with one study suggesting that African Americans were five times more likely than any other group to be displaced by eminent domain, as Black homes and businesses were destroyed to build California freeways or achieve so-called “slum clearance.” Earlier this session, this Committee heard and passed AB 62 (McKinnor), which established procedures by which a person who lost property because of racially motivated eminent domain (or their descendant) could apply to an Office of Legal Affairs (within a proposed new state agency) for the return of the property or, if the property were not available, then property of equal value or financial compensation. Although AB 62 did not specify the proposed state agency in which its Office of Legal Affairs might reside, the Bureau created by this bill is a likely candidate.

Education and Outreach Division. Consistent with recommendations of the Task Force, the Bureau will also contain an Education and Outreach Division. This division will develop and implement a public education campaign on relevant topics, including the cycle of gentrification, displacement, exclusion, and discriminatory urban planning in California.

Legal Affairs Division. Finally a Legal Affairs Division – also a prominent recommendation of the Task Force – will provide legal advice, counsel, and services to the Bureau and its officials. Among other things, the Division will ensure that the Bureau’s programs are administered in accordance with applicable legislative authority and serve as a liaison on legal matters with other state agencies. The Division will also conduct a review of past and present laws, as well as proposed legislation, to determine the extent of harm caused by these laws and recommend ways to mitigate those harms.

Proposed Author’s Amendment. As noted above, when the Task Force recommended the creation of California American Freedmen Affairs Agency, it recommended a Genealogy Office that would “support potential reparations claimants by providing access to expert genealogical research to confirm reparations eligibility and expedited assistance with the reparations claims process.” (Report, chapter 18, p. 636.) The Task Force apparently assumed that the Genealogy Office would not just accept claims and establish a certification process, but that it would affirmatively support and assist the claimant in conducting genealogical research. The Genealogy Division in the bill in print does not require this affirmative support and assistance, or at least not expressly. Therefore, the author will take the following amendment in this Committee:

• On page 5 after line 34 insert: (4) Support potential reparations claimants and assist individuals in verifying genealogical lineage by applying established evidence-based methodology to aid in determining eligibility.

Opposition’s concerns and potential responses. Opponents fall into two camps: those who oppose the principle of reparations on philosophical or constitutional grounds, and those, on the other end of the spectrum, who contend that the bill falls short of Task Force recommendations and will only result in further delays.

The constitutional argument put forward by the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), which has been discussed in prior reparation-related bills before this Committee, is fairly straightforward. PLF cites U.S. Supreme Court case law – including its recent decision in Students for Fair Admissions v Harvard (2023) 600 U.S. 181 – to contend that SB 518 is unconstitutional under the Fourteenth Amendment’s equal protection clause. PLF argues that because SB 518 uses a “racial classification” – or at least a proxy for race – that the measure will be subject to strict scrutiny. Strict scrutiny requires California to show that the legislation serves a “compelling government interest” and means that are “narrowly tailored” to serve that interest. PLF contends that SB 518 fails on both prongs. To be sure, a majority of the current U.S. Supreme Court justices may indeed adopt similar reasoning if the bill is challenged and reaches the nation’s high court.

However, the PLF argument is premised on a court finding that the classification in this bill amounts to a “racial classification.” The author and supporters would argue that the classification used in this bill is based not on race, but upon a person’s status as a descendant of an enslaved person. Even Justice Clarence Thomas –who has strenuously argued that race-based affirmative action is unconstitutional – recently suggested that the original Freedmen’s Bureau after the Civil War – which provided relief to “freedmen” – was not necessarily a racial classification. [Students for Fair Housing, at 246-248 (Thomas, J., concurring.)] If that is so, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that “descendant of slavery” is not a racial classification. In the final analysis, if this bill is challenged, the opinion of this Committee and the PLF will not matter. The courts will decide.

On the other side of the political spectrum, Black Lives Matter-Los Angeles (BLM-LA) and the Coalition for Justice in California (CJEC) oppose this bill because they claim it does not follow the recommendations of the Reparations Task Force, will delay implementation, and inappropriately place the Bureau within the Department of Justice, instead of establishing it as an independent body. These opponents argue that placing the entity, and the information that it collects, within a law enforcement entity risks unnecessary exposure to sensitive information and “raises serious concerns about potential misuse, data breaches, or exploitation in criminal or civil investigations.” However, the most recent amendments to this bill (dated June 16, 2025) added a new section providing that any information under the Bureau’s authority shall only be collected, held, and disclosed for the bill’s stated purposes and in a manner consistent with state and federal privacy laws.

The arguments made by BLM-LA and CJEC alleging that SB 518 will only delay the implementation of the Task Force recommendations merge with their criticisms of the author’s SB 437 and will be addressed in the analysis of that bill.

Related Legislation. SB 437 (Weber Pierson) appropriates $6 million to the California State University (CSU) to conduct research in furtherance of the recommendations of the Reparations Task Force and to explore options to determine how to confirm an individual’s status as a descendant. The bill requires CSU to conclude this research before the start of the 2029-2030 academic year. Although SB 437 and SB 518 are not contingently linked – and the author contends that SB 518 is not dependent upon SB 437 – it appears that they are intended to work together. That is, the research conducted by CSU will presumably establish best practices for confirming eligibility, while the Bureau created by SB 518 could use those best practices in certifying individual claimants. SB 437 is also before the Committee today and will be discussed in more detail in that bill’s analysis.

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: The Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation, and Truth (ARRT) supports this bill because it is consistent with the recommendations of the Reparations Task Force and will “provide practical and meaningful steps to repair the damage caused by centuries of discrimination and systemic injustice.” ARRT writes further:

ARRT believes that reparations for descendants and non-descendants, should be impactful, transformative, long-lasting, and comprehensive in accordance with the United Nations’ (UN) five principles for reparations.

SB 518 would establish the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within the Department of Justice, under the control of the director, who would be appointed by the Attorney General and confirmed by the Senate. This bill is one of many crucial steps toward addressing the long-lasting and ongoing harms inflicted upon descendants of U.S. Chattel Slavery and non-descendants. As a part of its duties, the Bureau would create four specialized divisions to begin the process of redress and repair.

While SB 518 alone is not enough to repair the harm caused by California’s role in U.S. chattel slavery and its vestiges, as detailed in the final Reparations Task Force Report, its passage would be a significant step towards “satisfaction” and “guarantee of non-repetition” as defined under international human rights law. Harm cannot be repaired unless and until one acknowledges that it exists. This bill is an essential component of the broader effort to address the economic, social, and legal inequalities that continue to affect descendants and nondescendants.

Several other civil rights groups and advocates for reparations and restorative justice support this bill for the substantially the same reasons articulated by ARRT.

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: The Pacific Legal Foundation writes in opposition:

As currently drafted, SB 518’s eligibility criteria for receiving benefits from the Bureau would be subject to strict scrutiny and would probably not survive a legal challenge. Limiting eligibility for state benefits on the basis of race is a clear violation of the U.S. Constitution and would not satisfy the rigorous review that courts would apply.

The Supreme Court was clear in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, 600 U.S. 181, 208 (2023), that the Constitution rarely tolerates race-based state action. And when it does, it is only within the confines of narrow restrictions. . . SB 518 is no exception.

All racial classifications must satisfy strict scrutiny. (Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena, 515 U.S. 200, 227 (1995); Rice v. Cayetano, 528 U.S. 495, 514 (2000); Connerly, 92 Cal. App. 4th at 29–30.) Under strict scrutiny’s “daunting two-step examination,” (Students for Fair Admissions, 600 U.S. at 206), the government has the burden of proving that racial classifications both (1) further a compelling governmental interest, and (2) are narrowly tailored—necessary—to achieve that interest. (Johnson v. California, 543 U.S. 499, 505 (2005).) SB 518 would not satisfy strict scrutiny.

Although SB 518 uses ancestry to further narrow the eligible class of recipients (Black individuals are not eligible if they are not descended from enslaved persons or a free black individual living in the U.S. in the 1800’s), strict scrutiny is no less applicable.

“Ancestry can be a proxy for race,” and is used here “as a racial definition and for a racial purpose.” (Rice, 528 U.S. at 515.) “Simply because a class defined by ancestry does not include all members of the race does not suffice to make the classification race neutral.” Id.

The Coalition for a Just and Equitable California (CJEC) opposes this bill, albeit for quite different reasons than those given by the Pacific Legal Foundation. Instead, CJEC contends that the bill is inconsistent with recommendations of the Task Force and will only result in delays. CJEC writes:

While the bill claims to advance the cause of Reparations, its provisions are out of step with the recommendations of the California Reparations Task Force and raise significant concerns regarding privacy, scope, and implementation delays. California’s first-in-the-nation Reparations Task Force recommended the creation of an independent state Agency to, in part, conduct a genealogy verification process to confirm Reparations eligibility for residents who believe they are descendants of people emancipated from Chattel slavery. . . SB 518, instead, creates a state Bureau that is dependent on (and embedded in) the California Department of Justice. By potentially housing sensitive genealogical data and personal records within the California Department of Justice—a law enforcement entity—this bill risks unnecessary exposure of private information.

The California Reparations Task Force also recommended a lineage-based approach to Reparations eligibility, along with the creation of the aforementioned state agency to help residents confirm their eligibility and process Reparations claims. But SB 518 includes language stating the intent of the Bureau to expand its scope so that it serves “nondescendants”, that is, residents who are not descendants of those emancipated from Chattel Slavery in the U.S.

Furthermore, SB 518 could also contribute to serious implementation delays. As written, although the proposed Bureau would be required to create an Office of Genealogy, that office may not be able to conduct any eligibility certification until the completion of research mandated by SB 437 (Weber-Pierson) . . . SB 518 cannot take effect in practice at least until the completion of the research in SB 437. . . Taken together, SB 518 and SB 437 effectively stall Reparative action, leaving impacted communities in limbo, and postponing justice once again for the very community this bill claims to serve.

Several other groups oppose this bill for substantially similar reasons.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

AAPI Force

AAPIS for Civic Empowerment

ACLU California Action

All Home, a Project of Tides Center

Alliance San Diego

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Civic Empowerment

Bay Area Regional Health Inequity Initiative

BLAC (Black Leadership Alliance Coalition)

Black American Political Association of California, Sacramento Chapter

Black American Political Association San Diego

Black Californians United for Early Care and Education

Black Equity Collective

Black Women for Wellness Action Project

Black Women Organized for Political Action

California Black Power Network

California Civil Liberties Advocacy

California Faculty Association

California Reparations Task Force Members Dr. Cheryl Grills, Lisa Holder, and Don Tamaki

California-Hawaii State Conference of the NAACP

Catalyst California

CFT- a Union of Educators & Classified Professionals

Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement

Courage California

Debt Free Justice California

Equal Justice Society

Equality California

Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce

Greater Sacramento Urban League

Japanese American Citizens League, Berkeley Chapter

Live Free California

Manzanar Committee

Multi-faith Action Coalition

Prevention Institute

San Francisco Bay Area Black & Jewish Unity Coalition

San Francisco Public Defender

Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice

Western Center on Law & Poverty

Where Is My Land

Support if Amended

ADOS Advocacy Foundation California Chapter

Opposition

American Redress Coalition of California, Sacramento

American Redress Coalition of California, Bay Area

Black Lives Matter - Los Angeles

California Black Lineage Society

California Organizations for Reparations

Californians for Equal Rights Foundation

Coalition for a Just and Equitable California

Emend the Mass Media Group

Lineage Equity and Advancement Project

Pacific Legal Foundation

Analysis Prepared by: Tom Clark / JUD. / (916) 319-2334

 THIRD READING  

Bill No: SB 518

Author: Weber Pierson (D), et al.

Amended: 5/23/25

Vote: 21

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: 11-2, 4/22/25

AYES: Umberg, Allen, Arreguín, Ashby, Caballero, Durazo, Laird, Stern, Wahab, Weber Pierson, Wiener

NOES: Niello, Valladares

SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 5-1, 5/23/25

AYES: Caballero, Cabaldon, Grayson, Richardson, Wahab

NOES: Seyarto

NO VOTE RECORDED: Dahle

SUBJECT: Descendants of enslaved persons: reparations

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This bill, contingent upon appropriation of sufficient funding by the Legislature, (1) establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery (Bureau) within state government, and (2) establishes the Bureau’s duties relating to determining an individual’s status as a descendant, as defined, and to reviewing and investigating complaints of property taken as a result of racially motivated eminent domain.

ANALYSIS:

Existing constitutional law:

1. Limits the taking of private property for public use as follows:
   1. Under the United States Constitution, private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. (United States Constitution (U.S. Const.), 5th & 14th Amendments (Amends.))
   2. Under the California Constitution (Cal. Const.), private property may be taken or damaged for a public use only when just compensation, ascertained by a jury unless waived, has first been paid to, or into court for, the owner. (Cal. Const., article (art.) I, § 19.)
2. Provides for equal protection under the law. (U.S. Const., 14th Amend., § 1; Cal. Const., art. I, § 7.)
3. Provides that all persons are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights, including acquiring, possessing, and protecting property. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 1.)
4. Provides that the State shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 31.)
5. Provides that the Legislature does not have the power to make any gift or authorize the making of any gift of public money or thing of value to any individual, municipal, or other corporation. (Cal. Const., art. XVI, § 6.)

Existing state law establishes the Eminent Domain Law, which establishes the procedures by which a court may determine the right to possession of a property and the value of a property within an eminent domain proceeding. (Code Civ. Proc., pt. 3, tit. 7, §§ 1230.010 et seq.)

Former state law established the Task Force to develop reparations proposals for African Americans, with special consideration for African Americans who are descended from persons enslaved in the United States, and provided that the Task Force statutes would remain in effect until July 1, 2023, and as of that date be repealed. (former Gov. Code, §§ 8301-8301.7, repealed by Gov. Code § 8301.7.)

This bill:

1. States the following Legislative intent:
   1. It is the intent of the Legislature in establishing the Bureau to establish an initial framework, and that the scope and responsibilities of the Bureau may expand as necessary to fulfill its mission and address additional harms as identified.
   2. It is the intent of the Legislature that, as the Bureau expands its scope in the future, it shall also advise on reparative remedies for the African American community to address the lasting harms of disenfranchisement, segregation, discrimination, exclusion, neglect, violence, and the persistent consequences of this legacy.
   3. Implementation of this bill shall be contingent upon appropriation of sufficient funding by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or other statute for that purpose.
2. Defines the following terms:
   1. “Bureau” means the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery.
   2. “Descendants” means descendants of an African American chattel enslaved person in the United States, or descendants of a free Black person living in the United States prior to the end of the 19th century.
   3. “Director” means the Director of the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery.
   4. “Racially motivated eminent domain” means when the state, county, city, city and county, district, or other political subdivision of the state acquires private property for public use and does not distribute just compensation to the owner at the time of acquisition, and the acquisition or the failure to provide just compensation was due, in whole or in part, to the owner’s ethnicity or race.
3. Establishes the Bureau in the Department of Justice; the Bureau shall be under the direct control of a director who is responsible to the Attorney General.
4. Provides that the Director of the Bureau shall be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, and shall perform all duties, exercise all powers, assume and discharge all responsibilities, and carry out and effect all purposes vested by law in the Bureau; and that the salary of the Director shall be fixed by the Governor pursuant to Government Code section 12001.
5. Requires the Bureau to establish a mission statement consistent with the recommendations from the former Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States.
6. Requires the Bureau to determine how an individual’s status as a descendant shall be confirmed, provided that proof of an individual’s descendant status shall be a qualifying criterion for benefits authorized by the state for descendants.
7. Provides that the Bureau, in order to accomplish the goal in 6), shall include the following divisions:
   1. A Genealogy Division, to (1) establish a process to certify descendants of American slaves; (2) create a method for eligible individuals to submit claims and receive compensation or restitution for those particular harms California inflicted upon the claimant or their family; and (3) establish an equitable alternative qualifying criterion for benefits for descendants authorized by the state in cases where an individual’s status as a descendant cannot be confirmed or proven.
   2. A Property Reclamation Division, to (1) research and document California state properties acquired as a result of racially motivated eminent domain, including properties that no longer exist due to state highway construction or other development; (2) create a database of property ownership in the state identifying properties acquired through racially motivated eminent domain or other discriminatory government action; (3) review and investigate public complaints from people who claim their property was taken without just compensation, pursuant to 8); (4) upon appropriation, distribute just compensation for fair market value, adjusted for property price appreciation, of the property at the time of the taking, pursuant to 8); and (5) address cases where individuals experienced harm due to the policies and practices of state and local agencies.
   3. An Education and Outreach Division, to develop and implement a public education campaign regarding the cycle of gentrification, displacement, and exclusion; the connection between redlining and gentrification; and the history of discriminatory urban planning in California.
   4. A Legal Affairs Division, to (1) provide legal advice, counsel, and services to the Bureau and its officials; (2) ensure that the Bureau’s programs are administered in accordance with applicable legislative authority; (3) advise the head of the Bureau on legislative, legal, and regulatory initiatives; (4) serve as an external liaison on legal matters with other state agencies and other entities; and (5) conduct a review of past and current laws, as well as proposed legislation, to determine whether those measures have caused, are causing, or may continue to cause harm, providing recommendations to mitigate or eliminate any harm identified in its review.
8. Sets forth the findings and declarations relating to, definitions for, and the procedure by which, the Property Reclamation Division (PRD) in the Bureau can consider and approve applications for the return of property taken through racially motivated eminent domain, including:
   1. A person who believes they had property taken from them as a result of racially motivated eminent domain shall submit an application to the PRD.
   2. The PRD shall review the application and investigate the claim, as specified.
   3. The PRD shall determine whether the application establishes a racially motivated eminent domain taking; if the PRD concludes there was not a racially motivated taking, the applicant can appeal, as specified.
   4. The PRD shall determine the specific state or local public entity that took the property and whether to award financial compensation or property, as specified.
   5. A person who receives a certification from the PRD can present the certification to the identified state or local entity, which can award the person with the identified financial or property as compensation; if the entity declines, the person can pursue a lawsuit against the entity and may assert any legal basis for return of the property or compensation that could have been raised at the time of the taking, and the statute of limitations shall not apply. The PRD’s determination is not binding on the court.
9. Prohibits the Attorney General from modifying the structure of the Bureau or its work.

Comments

In 2020, the Legislature passed, and the Governor signed, SB 3121 (Weber, Chapter 319, Statutes of 2020), which established the first-in-the nation Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States (Task Force) to study and develop reparations proposals for California’s role in accommodating and facilitating slavery, perpetuating the vestiges of enslavement, enforcing state-sanctioned discrimination, and permitting pervasive, systematic structures of discrimination against African Americans. The Task Force completed its work and issued its final report in 2023. The report contains a number of recommended remedies the state could implement in order to atone for its decades of state-sanctioned white supremacy.

This bill is intended to implement two of the Task Force’s recommendations, by establishing the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery to oversee reparations programs, including by establishing a method for determining how a person can establish their status as a descendant eligible for reparations. Additionally, the Bureau’s Property Reclamation Division will implement and manage a process by which persons who were the victims of racially motivated eminent domain, as defined, can seek compensation for their unjustly taken property. This bill’s implementation is contingent upon the Legislature’s appropriation of sufficient funding for this bill’s purpose.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes

According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, the bill’s fiscal impact is as follows:

• Unknown, ongoing annual costs likely in the millions of dollars (General Fund) to establish and operate the Bureau.
• Unknown, potentially significant cost to the state funded trial court system (Trial Court Trust Fund, General Fund) to adjudicate disputes regarding compensation and title to properties as a result of this bill.
• Unknown potentially significant costs (General Fund, local funds) to state and local agencies to provide compensation and or property as reparations as required by this bill.

SUPPORT: (Verified 5/23/25)

ACLU California Action

Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation and Truth

Alliance San Diego

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Civic Empowerment

Black Californians United for Early Care and Education

Black Equity Collective

Black Leadership Alliance Coalition

Black Women for Wellness Action Project

Black Women Organized for Political Action

Bay Area Regional Health Inequities Initiative

California Black Power Network

California Faculty Association

Catalyst California

CFT – A Union of Educators & Classified Professionals, AFT, AFL-CIO

Courage California

Don Tamaki, former Task Force Member

Dr. Cheryl Grills, former Task Force Member

Equal Justice Society

Equality California

Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce

Greater Sacramento Urban League

Lisa Holder, former Task Force Member

Live Free California

NAACP California-Hawai’i Conference

Prevention Institute

San Francisco Bay Area Black & Jewish Unity Coalition

San Francisco Public Defender’s Office

Sarah Webster Fabio Center for Social Justice

Western Center on law and Poverty

Where Is My Land

One individual

OPPOSITION: (Verified 5/23/25)

American Civil Rights Project

American Redress Coalition of California Bay Area

American Redress Coalition of California Sacramento

California Black Lineage Society

California Organizations for Reparations

Californians for Equal Rights Foundation

Coalition For A Just And Equitable California

Emend the Mass Media Group

Lineage Equity and Advancement Project

Pacific Legal Foundation

Three individuals

ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the NAACP California-Hawai’i State Conference:

SB 518 establishes the Bureau of Descendants of American Slavery, which will play a central role in helping to correct historical wrongs. By providing a comprehensive system to verify lineage, facilitate property reclamation, and ensure legal support, the Bureau will empower descendants of enslaved individuals in California to access the benefits and services they deserve. This bill is directly in line with the recommendations put forth by the California Reparations Task Force, which called for measures that provide practical and meaningful steps to repair the damage caused by centuries of discrimination and systemic injustice.

The creation of the Bureau, with specialized divisions for genealogy, property reclamation, education, and legal affairs, reflects a thoughtful, holistic approach to the needs of this community. It acknowledges the ongoing impact of slavery on Black Californians and ensures that those affected will have the tools and resources they need to receive support and recognition.

SB 518 provides an opportunity for the state to correct the historical neglect and disenfranchisement experienced by Black Californians, fostering equity and social justice. This bill is an essential component of the broader effort to address the economic, social, and legal inequalities that continue to affect this community today.

ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: According to the Lineage Equity and Advancement Project:

Firstly, SB 518 will significantly delay the implementation of policies intended to benefit descendants of enslaved persons. As written, the Bureau cannot begin its work until the completion of genealogy research mandated by SB 437 (Weber Pierson), a separate bill that directs millions of dollars toward unnecessary genealogical research, with no start date and no end date to the research. This indefinite timeline creates an open-ended delay, preventing any meaningful process in establishing eligibility criteria for administering benefits…

Additionally, SB 518 was drafted without meaningful input from grassroots California-based organizations and leaders who have long been engaged in advocating for Reparations and Reparative justice. Effective policy development requires the inclusion of voices from the communities directly impacted by historical injustices. By failing to incorporate the perspectives of these stakeholders in the legislative process, the bill risks implementing top-down solutions that do not fully address the needs, priorities, or concerns of the people it aims to serve, thereby perpetuating one of the harms that California’s Reparations Task Force cited as grounds for Reparative action: namely, political disenfranchisement.

Prepared by: Allison Whitt Meredith / JUD. / (916) 651-4113

5/27/25 13:05:31

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Anna Caballero, Chair

2025 - 2026 Regular Session

SB 518 (Weber Pierson) - Descendants of enslaved persons: reparations

Bill Summary:

SB 518 establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within the Department of Justice (DOJ).

*********** ANALYSIS ADDENDUM – SUSPENSE FILE ***********

The following information is revised to reflect amendments

adopted by the committee on May 23, 2025

Fiscal Impact:

• Unknown, ongoing annual costs likely in the millions of dollars (General Fund) to establish and operate the Bureau.
• Unknown, potentially significant cost to the state funded trial court system (Trial Court Trust Fund, General Fund) to adjudicate disputes regarding compensation and title to properties as a result of this bill.
• Unknown potentially significant costs (General Fund, local funds) to state and local agencies to provide compensation and or property as reparations as required by this bill.

Committee Amendments:

Make would make implementation of contingent upon appropriation by the Legislature, as specified and makes other technical conforming changes.

-- END --

SENATE COMMITTEE ON

Senator Anna Caballero, Chair

2025 - 2026 Regular Session

SB 518 (Weber Pierson) - Descendants of enslaved persons: reparations

Bill Summary:

SB 518 establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Fiscal Impact:

• Unknown, ongoing annual costs likely in the millions of dollars (General Fund) to establish and operate the Bureau. Costs include support staff as well as operating expenses, office space, and equipment for agency staff, and per diem and travel reimbursement costs for staff. By way of comparison, the Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs, created in 2002, advises the Governor and the Legislature on how to best respond to views, needs, and concerns of the state’s diverse and complex APIA communities and provides assistance to policymakers, state agencies, departments, and commissions to develop appropriate responses and programs that meet the needs of APIA communities, including focus on cultural language sensitivity, and hate incident and hate crime prevention measures. The Governor's proposed budget for the commission for 2024-25 was $675,000. If the agency created by this bill has a similar scope, its budget may be similar.
  
• Unknown, potentially significant cost to the state funded trial court system (Trial Court Trust Fund, General Fund) to adjudicate disputes regarding compensation and title to properties as a result of this bill. The fiscal impact of this bill to the courts will depend on many unknown factors unique to each case. An eight-hour court day costs approximately $10,500 in staff in workload. If court days exceed 10, costs to the trial courts could reach hundreds of thousands of dollars. In 2023–24, over 4.8 million cases were filed statewide in the superior courts. While the courts are not funded on a workload basis, an increase in workload could result in delayed court services and would put pressure on the General Fund to fund additional staff and resources and to increase the amount appropriated to backfill for trial court operations. The Governor’s 2025-26 budget proposes a $40 million ongoing increase in discretionary funding from the General Fund to help pay for increased trial court operation costs beginning in 2025-26.
  
• Unknown potentially significant costs (General Fund, local funds) to state and local agencies to provide compensation and or property as reparations as required by this bill.

Background:

In 2020, the Legislature passed, and the Governor signed, SB 3121 (Weber, Ch. 319, Stats. 2020), which established the first-in-the nation Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States (Task Force) to study and develop reparations proposals for California’s role in accommodating and facilitating slavery, perpetuating the vestiges of enslavement, enforcing state-sanctioned discrimination, and permitting pervasive, systematic structures of discrimination against African Americans. The Task Force completed its work and issued its final report in 2023. The report contains a number of recommended remedies the state could implement in order to atone for its decades of state-sanctioned white supremacy. This bill is intended to implement two of the Task Force’s recommendations, by establishing the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery to oversee reparations programs, including by establishing a method for determining how a person can establish their status as a descendant eligible for reparations.

Proposed Law:

• Establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within the DOJ. The bureau shall be under the direct control of a director who shall be responsible to the Attorney General. The bureau shall establish a mission statement consistent with the recommendations from the former Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States. As part of its duties, the bureau shall determine how an individual’s status as a descendant shall be confirmed. Proof of an individual’s descendent status shall be a qualifying criterion for benefits authorized by the state for descendants. To accomplish these goals, the bureau shall include all of the following divisions:
  • A Genealogy Division to establish a process to certify descendants of American slaves; create a method for eligible individuals to submit claims and receive compensation or restitution for those particular harms California inflicted upon the claimant or their family; and, establish an equitable alternative qualifying criterion for benefits for descendants authorized by the state in cases where an individual’s status as a descendant cannot be confirmed or proven.
  • An Education and Outreach Division to develop and implement a public education campaign regarding the cycle of gentrification, displacement, and exclusion; the connection between redlining and gentrification; and the history of discriminatory urban planning in California.
  • A Legal Affairs Division to do all of the following: Provide legal advice, counsel, and services to the bureau and its officials. Ensure that the bureau’s programs are administered in accordance with applicable legislative authority. Advise the head of the bureau on legislative, legal, and regulatory initiatives. Serve as an external liaison on legal matters with other state agencies and other entities. Conduct a review of past and current laws, as well as proposed legislation, to determine whether those measures have caused, are causing, or may continue to cause harm. The division shall provide recommendations to mitigate or eliminate any harm identified in its review.
    
  • A Property Reclamation Division to research and document California state properties acquired as a result of racially-motivated eminent domain, including properties that no longer exist due to state highway construction or other development; create a database of property ownership in the state identifying properties acquired through racially motivated eminent domain or other discriminatory government action; and review and investigate public complaints from people who claim their property was taken without just compensation, pursuant to Article 2 (commencing with Section 15215); and, address cases where individuals experienced harm due to the policies and practices of state and local agencies. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, Property Reclamation Division do all of the following:
    • Accept applications from persons who claim they are the dispossessed owner.
    • Review and investigate applications.
    • As part of its review, the division may request submission of additional information supporting the application that is reasonably necessary to verify the application, determine whether the applicant is a dispossessed owner, including determining whether the taking was racially motivated. If the division makes a request for additional documentation, it shall communicate that request to the applicant with a notice of the additional information required. The division shall consider any additional information provided by the applicant within 30 days of receipt.
    • After reviewing all of the relevant materials, determine whether the applicant is a dispossessed owner.
    • If the division determines that an applicant has established that they are a dispossessed owner pursuant to subdivision (c), the division shall determine all of the following:
      • The present day fair market value of the property that was taken as a result of racially motivated eminent domain.
      • The specific state or local public entity that took the property, or its successor.
      • Whether issuing property or just compensation to that dispossessed owner would serve to redress past acts of racial discrimination, prevent future acts of racial discrimination, and benefit the whole of the community and its general welfare.
    • If the division determines that issuing property or just compensation to the dispossessed owner is warranted, the division shall certify that the dispossessed owner is entitled to compensation, as follows:
      • If the taken property is still in the possession of the public entity that took the property, the division shall determine whether the dispossessed owner should be compensated through the return of the taken property. In making this determination, the division shall consider whether the property’s current use or zoning make it impractical to return the property and whether the condition of the property or its surrounding environment would make the return of the property inequitable.
      • If the taken property is no longer in the possession of the public entity that took the property or the division determines that the dispossessed owner should not be compensated through the return of the taken property, the division shall solicit from the state or local entity, as applicable, a list of recommendations of publicly held properties that are suitable as compensation and shall determine whether the dispossessed owner should be compensated through the grant of title to one of the recommended publicly held properties.
      • If the division determines that the dispossessed owner should not be compensated through either the return of the taken property or the grant of title to a publicly held property, the division shall certify that the dispossessed owner is entitled to financial compensation equal to the fair market value less any amount paid for the property at the time of the taking as adjusted for inflation.
    • If the division determines that an applicant is not a dispossessed owner or that issuing property or just compensation is not warranted, the division shall notify the applicant of its finding. The applicant may appeal the determination within 60 days of receiving the notice and provide additional information to support their claim. The division shall consider the appeal and any new information provided and issue a determination on the appeal within 120 days.
    • A person who receives a certification from the division may present the certification to the specific state or local public entity identified by the division and the state public entity, upon appropriation, or the local public entity may provide to the person the property or monetary compensation identified in the certification.
• If the state or local entity that took property by racially motivated eminent domain does not provide compensation in accordance with the division’s certification, the dispossessed owner may bring a claim for compensation under the Government Claims Act. The person bringing the claim may assert any legal basis for return of the property or compensation that would have been available to the property owner at the time of the taking. The determination of the division shall not be binding upon the court. A claim brought pursuant to this section shall not be subject to the statute of limitations.
• Every finding, decision, determination, or other official act of the bureau is subject to judicial review in accordance with existing law.
• Defines the following:
  • “Descendants” means descendants of an African American chattel enslaved person in the United States, or descendants of a free Black person living in the United States prior to the end of the 19th century.
  • “Racially motivated eminent domain” means when the state, county, city, city and county, district, or other political subdivision of the state acquires private property for public use and does not distribute just compensation to the owner at the time of the acquisition, and the acquisition or the failure to provide just compensation was due, in whole or in part, to the owner’s ethnicity or race.
  • “Dispossessed owner” means a person who has had property taken from them as a result of racially motivated eminent domain or a direct descendant of the person whose property was taken.
  • “Publicly held property” means property that is owned by the state or by the local agency that took possession of the property that is the subject of an application submitted pursuant to this article.

Related Legislation:

SB 437 (Weber-Pierson) requires the Director of Finance to allocate $6,000,000, as specified, for the purpose of enabling the California State University to conduct research to explore options to determine how to confirm an individual’s status as a descendant and descendant. SB 437 is pending in this Committee.

-- END --

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE

Senator Thomas Umberg, Chair

2025-2026 Regular Session

Bill No: SB 518 (Author:Weber Pierson)

Version: April 10, 2025

Hearing Date: April 22, 2025

Fiscal: Yes

Urgency: No

Consultant: AWM

SUBJECT

Descendants of enslaved persons: reparations

DIGEST

This bill establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery (Bureau) within state government, and establishes the Bureau’s duties relating to determining an individual’s status as a descendant, as defined, and to reviewing and investigating complaints of property taken as a result of racially motivated eminent domain.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In 2020, the Legislature passed, and the Governor signed, SB 3121 (Weber, Ch. 319, Stats. 2020), which established the first-in-the nation Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States (Task Force) to study and develop reparations proposals for California’s role in accommodating and facilitating slavery, perpetuating the vestiges of enslavement, enforcing state-sanctioned discrimination, and permitting pervasive, systematic structures of discrimination against African Americans. The Task Force completed its work and issued its final report in 2023. The report contains a number of recommended remedies the state could implement in order to atone for its decades of state-sanctioned white supremacy.

This bill is intended to implement two of the Task Force’s recommendations, by establishing the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery to oversee reparations programs, including by establishing a method for determining how a person can establish their status as a descendant eligible for reparations. Additionally, the Bureau’s Property Reclamation Division will implement and manage a process by which persons who were the victims of racially motivated eminent domain, as defined, can seek compensation for their unjustly taken property. The author has agreed to amendments to clarify this procedure and make conforming changes.

This bill is sponsored by the author and is supported by 16 community, equity, and legal organizations and four individuals, including three former Task Force Members. This bill is opposed by nine equity, community, and reparations-focused organizations and one individual.

PROPOSED CHANGES TO THE LAW

Existing constitutional law:

1. Limits the taking of private property for public use as follows:
   1. Under the United States Constitution, private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation. (U.S. Const., 5th & 14th Amends.)
   2. Under the California Constitution, private property may be taken or damaged for a public use only when just compensation, ascertained by a jury unless waived, has first been paid to, or into court for, the owner. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 19.)
2. Provides for equal protection under the law as follows:
   1. Under the United States Constitution, provides that no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. (U.S. Const., 14th Amend., § 1.)
   2. Under the California Constitution, provides that a person may not be denied the equal protection of the laws, and that a citizen or class of citizens may not be granted privileges or immunities not granted on the same terms to all citizens. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 7.)
3. Provides that all persons are by nature free and independent and have inalienable rights, including acquiring, possessing, and protecting property. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 1.)
4. Provides that the State shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting. (Cal. Const., art. I, § 31.)
5. Provides that the Legislature does not have the power to make any gift or authorize the making of any gift of public money or thing of value to any individual, municipal, or other corporation. (Cal. Const., art. XVI, § 6.)

Existing federal law:

1. Acknowledges that a grave injustice was done to U.S. citizens and permanent residents of Japanese ancestry by the evacuation, relocation, and internment of civilians during World War II, which were motivated largely by racial prejudice, wartime hysteria, and a failure of political leadership; and that the interned individuals of Japanese ancestry suffered enormous damages, both material and intangible, as a result of the fundamental violations of their basic civil liberties and constitutional rights. (50 U.S.C. § 4202(a).)
2. Provided, as restitution for 1), a payment of $20,000 to each individual of Japanese ancestry who was a U.S. citizen or permanent resident and was subjected to internment during World War II, as specified; or, if the person is deceased, to their surviving spouse, child, or parent. (50 U.S.C. §§ 4215, 4218.)
3. Established the Civil Liberties Public Education Fund within the U.S. Treasury, which expired ten years after its creation, for the purpose of distributing the funds under 2). (50 U.S.C. § 4214.)
4. Acknowledges that the United States forcibly relocated Aleut civilian residents of the Pribilof Islands and the Aleutian Islands west of Unimak Island during World War II to temporary camps in isolated regions of Southeast Alaska, where the United States failed to provide reasonable care for the Aleuts, resulting in widespread illness, disease, and death; and that the United States failed to protect Aleut personal and community property while the property was under its protection or control. (50 U.S.C. § 4202(b).)
5. Provided, as restitution for 4), the value of land taken from the Aleut; the establishment of a trust from which to pay for destroyed and damaged property; and $12,000 to each eligible Aleut, subject to the availability of funds, as specified. (50 U.S.C. §§ 4233, 4235, 4236.)

1. Establishes the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands Restitution Fund to fund 5). (50 U.S.C. § 4233.)

Existing state law:

1. Establishes the Eminent Domain Law, which establishes the procedures by which a court may determine the right to possession of a property and the value of a property within an eminent domain proceeding. (Code Civ. Proc., pt. 3, tit. 7, §§ 1230.010 et seq.)
2. Establishes the California Victim Compensation Board (CalVCB), which provides the victims of certain crimes, and certain family members of victims and good Samaritans, with compensation for certain expenses incurred as a result of the crime, including health care costs, income losses, job retraining, home security installation, relocation, and mental health counseling. (Gov. Code, tit. 2, div. 3, pt. 4, §§ 13900 et seq.)
3. Establishes procedures by which a person may apply for compensation from the CalVCB and for the CalVCB to consider and approve or deny an application. (Gov. Code, §§ 13952-13954, 13959.)
4. Establishes, contingent on an appropriation, the Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program, administered by the California Victim Compensation Board (CalVCB), which is intended to provide compensation to individuals who are the survivors of state-sponsored sterilization conducted pursuant to eugenics laws that existed in the State of California between 1909 and 1979 or of coercive sterilization performed on an individual in the custody and control of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation after 1979. (Health & Saf. Code, div. 20, ch. 1.6, §§ 24210 et seq.)
5. Establishes the Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Account in the State Treasury, which is administered by the CalVCB; funds appropriated for the Account must be used for the purpose of providing payment to persons determined eligible. (Health & Saf. Code, §§ 24212, 24213.)

Former state law established the Task Force to develop reparations proposals for African Americans, with special consideration for African Americans who are descended from persons enslaved in the United States, and provided that the Task Force statutes would remain in effect until July 1, 2023, and as of that date be repealed. (former Gov. Code, §§ 8301-8301.7, repealed by Gov. Code § 8301.7.)

This bill:

1. States the following Legislative intent:
   1. It is the intent of the Legislature in establishing the Bureau to establish an initial framework, and that the scope and responsibilities of the Bureau may expand as necessary to fulfill its mission and address additional harms as identified.
   2. It is the intent of the Legislature that, as the Bureau expands its scope in the future, it shall also advise on reparative remedies for the African American community to address the lasting harms of disenfranchisement, segregation, discrimination, exclusion, neglect, violence, and the persistent consequences of this legacy.
2. Defines the following terms:
   1. “Bureau” means the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery.
   2. “Descendants” means descendants of an African American chattel enslaved person in the United States, or descendants of a free Black person living in the United States prior to the end of the 19th century.
   3. “Director” means the Director of the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery.
   4. “Racially motivated eminent domain” means when the state, county, city, city and county, district, or other political subdivision of the state acquires private property for public use and does not distribute just compensation to the owner at the time of acquisition, and the acquisition or the failure to provide just compensation was due, in whole or in part, to the owner’s ethnicity or race.
3. Establishes the Bureau in the Department of Justice; the Bureau shall be under the direct control of a director who is responsible to the Attorney General.
4. Provides that the Director of the Bureau shall be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, and shall perform all duties, exercise all powers, assume and discharge all responsibilities, and carry out and effect all purposes vested by law in the Bureau; and that the salary of the Director shall be fixed by the Governor pursuant to Government Code section 12001.
5. Requires the Bureau to establish a mission statement consistent with the recommendations from the former Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States.
6. Requires the Bureau to determine how an individual’s status as a descendant shall be confirmed, provided that proof of an individual’s descendant status shall be a qualifying criterion for benefits authorized by the state for descendants.
7. Provides that the Bureau, in order to accomplish the goal in 6), shall include the following divisions:
   1. A Genealogy Division, to (1) establish a process to certify descendants of American slaves; (2) create a method for eligible individuals to submit claims and receive compensation or restitution for those particular harms California inflicted upon the claimant or their family; and (3) establish an equitable alternative qualifying criterion for benefits for descendants authorized by the state in cases where an individual’s status as a descendant cannot be confirmed or proven.
   2. A Property Reclamation Division, to (1) research and document California state properties acquired as a result of racially motivated eminent domain, including properties that no longer exist due to state highway construction or other development; (2) create a database of property ownership in the state identifying properties acquired through racially motivated eminent domain or other discriminatory government action; (3) review and investigate public complaints from people who claim their property was taken without just compensation, pursuant to 8); (4) upon appropriation, distribute just compensation for fair market value, adjusted for property price appreciation, of the property at the time of the taking, pursuant to 8); and (5) address cases where individuals experienced harm due to the policies and practices of state and local agencies.
   3. An Education and Outreach Division, to develop and implement a public education campaign regarding the cycle of gentrification, displacement, and exclusion; the connection between redlining and gentrification; and the history of discriminatory urban planning in California.
   4. A Legal Affairs Division, to (1) provide legal advice, counsel, and services to the Bureau and its officials; (2) ensure that the Bureau’s programs are administered in accordance with applicable legislative authority; (3) advise the head of the Bureau on legislative, legal, and regulatory initiatives; (4) serve as an external liaison on legal matters with other state agencies and other entities; and (5) conduct a review of past and current laws, as well as proposed legislation, to determine whether those measures have caused, are causing, or may continue to cause harm, providing recommendations to mitigate or eliminate any harm identified in its review.
8. Sets forth the findings and procedure by which the Property Reclamation Division in the Bureau can consider and grant applications for the return of property taken through racially motivated eminent domain (collectively, Article 2).
9. States that the Legislature finds and declares that it is in the public interest to compensate victims of racially motivated eminent domain, which deprived citizens of just compensation for their property due to racially discriminatory motives. The unjust taking of land without fair compensation destroyed communities, forced many from their historical neighborhoods, deprived those persons of the fair value of their property, and, in many cases, prevented the accumulation of generational wealth. Providing compensation to these victims of racial discrimination will restore the value of wrongfully taken property to dispossessed owners and hold government entities responsible for those wrongful discriminatory acts.
10. Defines the following terms for purposes of Article 2:
    1. “Dispossessed owner” means a person who has had property taken from them as a result of racially motivated eminent domain, or a direct descendant of the person whose property was taken.
    2. “Publicly held property” means property that is owned by the state or by the local agency that took possession of the property that is the subject of an application submitted pursuant to 9).
11. Provides that, upon appropriation of the Legislature, the Property Reclamation Division within the Bureau shall do all of the following:
    1. Accept applications from persons who claim they are a dispossessed owner.
    2. Review and investigate submitted applications. As part of its review, the Division may request additional information, and the applicant may provide it, as specified.
    3. Determine, after reviewing all of the relevant materials, whether the applicant is a dispossessed owner.
    4. When the determination is in the applicant’s favor, the Division shall determine (1) the present fair market value of the property that was taken as a result of racially motivated eminent domain, and (2) whether issuing property or just compensation to that dispossessed owner would serve to redress past acts of racial discrimination, prevent future acts of racial discrimination, and promote the whole of the community and its general welfare.
    5. If the Division determines that issuing property or just compensation is warranted under 11)(d), the Division shall certify that the dispossessed owner is entitled to one of the following:
       1. If the taken property is still in the possession of the public entity that took the property, the return of the taken property.
       2. If the taken property is no longer in the possession of the public entity that took the property, a publicly held property selected from a list of recommended properties provided by the state or local entity, as applicable.
       3. If the property is no longer in possession of the public entity that took the property and no publicly held property is suitable as compensation, financial compensation equal to the present-day fair market value of the property.
    6. When the determination is that the applicant is not a dispossessed owner, the Division shall notify the applicant of its filing, and the applicant may appeal the determination within 60 days of receiving the notice and provide additional information to support their claim. The Division shall consider the appeal and any new information provided and issue a determination on the appeal within 120 days.
12. Provides that, if the state or local entity that took property by racially motivated domain as determined in 11) does not provide compensation in accordance with the Division’s certification, the dispossessed owner may bring a claim for compensation under the Government Claims Act; such a claim shall not be subject to the statute of limitations, whether the action is brought before or after the enactment of this bill.
13. Provides that:
    1. Article 2 does not disturb or invalidate the title of any property taken by racially motivated eminent domain except against the state or jurisdiction as set forth in Article 2.
    2. Every finding, decision, determination, or other official act of the Bureau is subject to judicial review in accordance with existing law.
14. Prohibits the Attorney General from modifying the structure of the Bureau or its work.

COMMENTS

1. Author’s comment

According to the author:

Senate Bill 518 establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery to address and remedy the lasting harms inflicted on Black Californians. For generations, California upheld discriminatory policies and practices that denied Black residents access to land, wealth, education, and economic opportunity. From exclusionary housing practices to barriers in employment and healthcare, these policies created deep racial disparities that persist today.

Building on the findings and recommendations of the California Reparations Task Force, SB 518 creates a state agency to verify lineage and facilitate access to reparative programs. By ensuring that descendants of enslaved people receive recognition and targeted benefits in housing, education, and economic opportunity, this bill takes a critical step toward dismantling institutional barriers and advancing justice for Black Californians

2. The Task Force’s report and recommendations

In 2020, the Legislature enacted AB 3121 (Weber, Ch. 319, Stats. 2020), which created the first-in-the-nation Task Force to explore options for providing reparations to African Americans, and particularly the descendants of enslaved persons, in recognition of California’s role in the heinous institution of slavery and the post-abolition perpetuation of racist institutions.^[1] The Task Force released an interim report on June 1, 2022, which provided the Task Force’s preliminary findings regarding the ongoing and compounding harms caused by federal, state, and local governments from slavery and the “ ‘badges and incidents of slavery’ ” that continued to be imposed on African Americans long after slavery was formally abolished.^[2] The report notes that, because “the effects of slavery infected every aspect of American society over the last 400 years…it is nearly impossible to identify every ‘badge and incident of slavery,’ to include every piece of evidence, or describe every harm done to African Americans.”^[3]

On June 29, 2023, the Task Force issued its final report to the California Legislature, known as the California Reparations Report.^[4] The California Reparations Report incorporates and updates the interim report and recommends appropriate remedies, including compensation, for African Americans as recompense for the State’s gross human rights violations against African Americans and their descendants.^[5] The California Reparations Report explains:

[T]he harms inflicted upon African Americans have not been incidental or accidental—they have been by design. They are the result of an all-encompassing web of discriminatory laws, regulations, and policies enacted by government. These laws and policies have enabled government officials and private individuals and entities to perpetuate the legacy of slavery by subjecting African Americans as a group to discrimination, exclusion, neglect, and violence in every facet of American life. And there has been no comprehensive effort to disrupt and dismantle institutionalized racism, stop the harm, and redress the specific injuries caused to descendants and the larger African American community.^[6]

The Task Force developed its recommendations for reparations taking into account this willful infliction of harm and applying international standards and principles for the remedy of wrongs and injuries caused by a government.^[7]

One of the Task Force’s recommendations is to provide restitution to the owners of property that was taken through the use of eminent domain without providing just compensation.^[8] The Task Force recommended that this remedial project be run by a newly created agency, which would, among other things, review and investigate complaints from people who claim their property was taken without just compensation.^[9] While legislation was introduced in 2024 to implement these recommendations, none of those bills was ultimately signed into law.^[10]

3. The prevalence of racially motivated eminent domain

Eminent domain, as enshrined in the federal and state Constitutions, permits the government to seize privately owned land and put it to a public use—provided that the owner is justly compensated for their property.^[11] “Just compensation” “means in most cases the fair market value of the property on the date it is appropriated,” which entitles the owner “to receive what a willing buyer would pay in cash to a willing seller at the time of taking.”^[12] Historically, however, federal, state, and local governments have frequently targeted properties owned by racial and ethnic minorities for seizure without paying the owners a fair price—which harmed not only the former owners, but stifled the development of generational wealth that allows families to truly flourish.^[13]

Examples in California include Manhattan Beach’s racially motivated seizure of Bruce’s Beach^[14] and the decade-long clearing of Chavez Ravine, the land that is now home to Dodger Stadium.^[15] The Legislature and Los Angeles County took action to return Bruce’s Beach to Willa and Charles Bruce’s descendants,^[16] but the former residents of Chavez Ravine, and a multitude of other individuals whose property was taken unjustly, have yet to be fully compensated.

4. This bill establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery and a process by which the Bureau can certify claims for racially motivated eminent domain

This bill is intended to implement two of the Task Force’s main recommendations: establishing a new agency dedicated to the implementation and success of the Task Force’s recommendations,^[17] and providing restitution or compensation to persons, or the descendants of persons, whose property was taken through racially motivated eminent domain.^[18]

a. The Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery

This bill establishes the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery within the Office of the Attorney General. The Bureau will be run by a director appointed by the Attorney General and confirmed by the Senate. The Bureau’s general mission will be to implement the recommendations of the Task Force.

In order to accomplish its mission, the Bureau will include at least three divisions:

• A Genealogy Division, which will establish a process to certify descendants of American slaves, create a method for individuals to submit claims based on their status as a descendant, and establish an alternative equitable qualifying criterion for descendants who are unable to prove their status through the genealogical process.
• A Property Reclamation Division, which will research and document California state properties acquired as a result of racially motivated eminent domain, create a database of such properties, and conduct the racially motivated eminent domain restitution procedure discussed below in Part 5.b.
• An Education and Outreach Division, which will develop and implement a public education campaign regarding the cycle of gentrification, displacement, and exclusion; the connection between redlining and gentrification; and the history of discriminatory urban planning in California.
• A Legal Affairs Division, which will provide advice to the Bureau and its officials on legal and legislative matters, serve as an external liaison on legal matters to other state agencies and other entities, review past and current laws, and proposed legislation, to determine whether the measures are causing, have caused, or are intended to cause harm.

b. Restitution for racially motivated eminent domain

This bill requires the Property Reclamation Division (PRD) of the Bureau to accept, and rule on, applications from persons whose property, or the descendants of people whose property, was taken without just compensation, in whole or in part, because of the property owner’s ethnicity or race. The bill establishes the process by which applications can be submitted, allows the PRD to seek additional information if needed, and requires the PRD to determine whether the property was, in fact, taken through racially motivated eminent domain. If the PRD determines that the property was taken through racially motivated eminent domain, the PRD must also determine the present-day fair market value of the property taken as a result of racially motivated eminent domain, and whether issuing property or just compensation to the dispossessed owner would serve to redress past acts of racial discrimination, prevent future acts of racial discrimination, and benefit the whole community and its general welfare.

In the event that the PRD determines that an award is justified, the bill permits the PRD to certify that the dispossessed owner is entitled to the return of the property, an award of comparable property, or monetary compensation, depending on the circumstances. The dispossessed owner can take that certification to the state agency or local entity that was responsible for the unjust taking to seek the certified form of restitution. If the state or local entity does not provide the restitution, the bill permits the dispossessed owner to bring a suit against the state or local entity through the procedures set forth in the Government Claims Act,^[19] and that the statutes of limitations on any such claim (e.g., a violation of the Eminent Domain Law) shall not apply. The author has agreed to amendments to clarify these procedures.

The procedure established by this bill will permit a limited revival of claims otherwise barred by the applicable statutes of limitations. The California Supreme Court has held that the Legislature “has authority to establish—and to enlarge—limitations periods” provided that the language of revival is explicit.^[20] This bill includes the requisite express language, so there should be no question that the Legislature intends to permit certified claims arising from racially motivated eminent domain to proceed notwithstanding the otherwise-expired statute of limitations. At the same time, the bill’s certification structure—wherein the PRD has to certify a claim before the rightful owner can proceed with the claim—should provide security against meritless claims being filed against state and local entities. Finally, amendments agreed to by the author specify that the court is not bound by the PRD’s determination, meaning the state or local entity is ensured a true de novo review of the claim, thereby protecting their due process rights.

5. This bill’s relationship to SB 437 (Weber Pierson)

This Committee is also hearing SB 437 (Weber Pierson), which, subject to an appropriation, requires the California State University (CSU) to conduct research and explore options for how to determine a person’s status as s descendant for purposes of eligibility for reparations. SB 437 requires the CSU to commence the work of establishing the verification process on or before the start of the 2026-2027 academic year. This bill does not expressly require the Bureau or the Genealogy Division to rely on the CSU’s recommendations, but they would certainly be able to do so.

6. Constitutional considerations

Some of the bill’s opponents argue that this bill will violate the state and federal equal protection clauses.^[21] To the extent this argument is based on the definition proposed by the Task Force, this is incorrect: while the Task Force recommended a specific set of criteria for reparations eligibility, this bill does not codify those criteria. And as actually defined in the bill, a “descendant” is a descendant of an African American chattel enslaved person or of a free Black person in the United States prior to the end of the 19th century; this latter category, as a practical matter, also guarantees that the descendant will be the descendant of an African American chattel enslaved person because of America’s limitations on immigration from Africa until well into the 20th century. The bill thus ties “descendant” status, and eligibility for reparations, to proof that an individual is descended from victims of American chattel slavery; contrary to the opponents’ assertion, the race of the descendant is immaterial.^[22]

The definition in this bill is thus akin to the program established to provide reparations to the victims, or their descendants, of the United States’ internment of persons of Japanese descent during World War II.^[23] There is a nationality-based—or here, race-based—categorization that arises from the original injury; that is unavoidable when the underlying motivation for the harm was racism. The criteria for eligibility for reparations, however, is not tied to the race of the recipient, but rather to the recipient’s relationship to a person harmed. The bill therefore does not plainly violate the requirements of equal protection, or the more stringent Proposition 209’s prohibition on discrimination or preferential treatment “on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting.”^[24] To avoid any doubt about the intent of this bill to be race-neutral in its application, the author has agreed to amend the language regarding the Bureau’s future mission.

With respect to the racially motivated eminent domain procedure, there is even less cause for concern. While the racially motivated eminent domain procedure will be conducted through the Bureau, the procedure is neither facially nor implicitly limited to persons of a specific race, or even only descendants. Because the racially motivated eminent domain procedure is race-neutral, there should be no concern that this procedure will violate any prohibitions related to race.

Additionally, the racially motivated eminent domain process appears consistent with the constitutional limits on when public funds may be provided to an individual.^[25] The procedure is roughly modeled on the California Victim Compensation Board, and the bill makes findings and declarations relating to the Legislature’s determination that providing restitution serves an important public purpose. Additionally, the bill requires the PRD to determine that each specific award of compensation will serve the public purposes of preventing discrimination and benefitting the community as a whole, which is intended to ensure that individual inequitable awards are not made. Overall, therefore, it appears that this bill provides an adequate legislative justification for the use of public funds.

7. Amendments

As discussed above, the author has agreed to amendments to clarify the bill’s racially motivated eminent domain procedure and otherwise clarify the Bureau’s scope and mission. The amendments are set forth below, subject to any nonsubstantive changes the Office of Legislative Counsel may make.

Amendment 1

At page 3, delete lines 19-23 and insert “(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that, as the bureau expands its scope in the future, it shall also advise on reparative remedies to address the lasting harms of disenfranchisement, segregation, discrimination, exclusion, neglect, violence, and the persistent consequences of this legacy that impacts both descendants and non-descendants.”

Amendment 2

At page 5, delete lines 3 through 6.

Amendment 3

At page 5, in line 7, delete “(5)” and insert “(4)”

Amendment 4

At page 7, before line 1, insert “(2) The specific state or local public entity that was responsible for the taking.”

Amendment 5

At page 7, in line 1, delete “(2)” and insert “(3)”

Amendment 6

At page 7, in line 8, delete “one of the following” and insert “compensation, as follows”

Amendment 7

At page 7, delete lines 9 and 10 and insert “(1) If the taken property is still in the possession of the public entity that took the property, the division shall determine whether the dispossessed owner should be compensated through the return of the taken property or through the present-day value of the property, minus any amount paid for the property at the time it was taken, adjusted for inflation. In making this determination, the division shall consider whether the property’s current use or zoning make it impractical to return the property, and whether the property’s, or its surrounding environment’s, condition would make the return of the property inequitable.”

Amendment 8

At page 7, delete lines 11-15 and insert “If the taken property is no longer in possession of the public entity that took the property, or the division has determined that it is unsuitable for return pursuant to paragraph (1), the division shall determine whether the dispossessed owner should be compensated through the grant of title to one of the recommended publicly held properties or the present-day fair market value of the taken property, minus any amount paid for the property at the time of the taking, adjusted for inflation.”

Amendment 9

At page 7, in line 20, after “(d)” insert “, minus any amount paid for the property at the time of the taking, adjusted for inflation”

Amendment 10

At page 7, in line 29, after “(a)” insert:

A person who receives a certification from the division pursuant to Section 15217 may present the certification to the specific state or local public entity identified by the division, and the state public entity, subject to appropriation, or the local public entity may provide to the person the property or monetary compensation identified in the certification.

(b) (1)

Amendment 11

At page 7, between lines 34 and 35, insert “(2) The person bringing the claim may assert any legal basis for return of the property or compensation that would have been available to the property owner at the time of the taking. The division’s determination shall not be binding upon the court.”

8. Arguments in support

According to the NAACP California-Hawai’i State Conference:

SB 518 establishes the Bureau of Descendants of American Slavery, which will play a central role in helping to correct historical wrongs. By providing a comprehensive system to verify lineage, facilitate property reclamation, and ensure legal support, the Bureau will empower descendants of enslaved individuals in California to access the benefits and services they deserve. This bill is directly in line with the recommendations put forth by the California Reparations Task Force, which called for measures that provide practical and meaningful steps to repair the damage caused by centuries of discrimination and systemic injustice.

The creation of the Bureau, with specialized divisions for genealogy, property reclamation, education, and legal affairs, reflects a thoughtful, holistic approach to the needs of this community. It acknowledges the ongoing impact of slavery on Black Californians and ensures that those affected will have the tools and resources they need to receive support and recognition.

SB 518 provides an opportunity for the state to correct the historical neglect and disenfranchisement experienced by Black Californians, fostering equity and social justice. This bill is an essential component of the broader effort to address the economic, social, and legal inequalities that continue to affect this community today.

9. Arguments in opposition

According to the Lineage Equity and Advancement Project:

Firstly, SB 518 will significantly delay the implementation of policies intended to benefit descendants of enslaved persons. As written, the Bureau cannot begin its work until the completion of genealogy research mandated by SB 437 (Weber Pierson), a separate bill that directs millions of dollars toward unnecessary genealogical research, with no start date and no end date to the research. This indefinite timeline creates an open-ended delay, preventing any meaningful process in establishing eligibility criteria for administering benefits…

Additionally, SB 518 was drafted without meaningful input from grassroots California-based organizations and leaders who have long been engaged in advocating for Reparations and Reparative justice. Effective policy development requires the inclusion of voices from the communities directly impacted by historical injustices. By failing to incorporate the perspectives of these stakeholders in the legislative process, the bill risks implementing top-down solutions that do not fully address the needs, priorities, or concerns of the people it aims to serve, thereby perpetuating one of the harms that California’s Reparations Task Force cited as grounds for Reparative action: namely, political disenfranchisement.

SUPPORT

ACLU California Action

Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation and Truth

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Civic Empowerment

Black Californians United for Early Care and Education

Black Equity Collective

Black Leadership Alliance Coalition

California Black Power Network

Catalyst California

Don Tamaki, former Task Force Member

Dr. Cheryl Grills, former Task Force Member

Equality California

Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce

Greater Sacramento Urban League

Lisa Holder, former Task Force Member

Live Free California

NAACP California-Hawai’i Conference

San Francisco Bay Area Black & Jewish Unity Coalition

San Francisco Public Defender’s Office

Western Center on law and Poverty

One individual

OPPOSITION

American Redress Coalition of California Bay Area

American Redress Coalition of California Sacramento

California Black Lineage Society

California Organizations for Reparations

Californians for Equal Rights Foundation

Coalition For A Just And Equitable California

Emend the Mass Media Group

Lineage Equity and Advancement Project

Pacific Legal Foundation

One individual

RELATED LEGISLATION

Pending legislation:

SB 437 (Weber Pierson, 2025) requires the Director of Finance to allocate $6 million, as specified, for the purpose of enabling the California State University to conduct research in furtherance of the recommendations of the Task Force, as specified. SB 437 is pending before this Committee and is set to be heard on the same date as this bill.

AB 1315 (Essayli, 2025) establishes the California Freedman Affairs Agency as an agency within state government, for the purpose of verifying a resident’s status as an American Freedman, as defined, and maintaining a database of American Freedman residents. AB 1315 is pending before the Assembly Rules Committee.

AB 62 (McKinnor, 2025) establishes, within an agency to be determined, a process by which persons could submit applications for compensation for property taken as a result of racially motivated eminent domain, and by which compensation could be awarded. AB 62 is pending before the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

Prior legislation:

SB 1403 (Bradford, 2024) would have established the California Freedmen Affairs Agency which would, among other things, implement and oversee the implementation of the recommendations of the Task Force. SB 1403 died on the Assembly Floor.

SB 1331 (Bradford, 2024) would have established the Fund for Reparations and Reparative Justice in the State Treasury with the purpose of funding policies approved by the Legislature and the Governor that address the harm that the State of California caused to descendants of an African American chattel enslaved person or descendants of a free Black person living in the United States prior to the end of the 19th century. SB 1331 died on the Assembly Floor.

SB 1050 (Bradford, 2024) would have established a procedure by which a dispossessed owner, as defined, of property that was taken as a result of racially motivated eminent domain, as defined, could apply for the return of the property, property of equal value, or compensation. SB 1050 was vetoed by the Governor, who stated in his veto message that, while he applauded the author’s “commitment to redressing past racial injustices,” the bill “task[ed] a nonexistent state agency to carry out its various provisions and requirements, making it impossible to implement.”

SB 490 (Bradford, 2024) would have established the California Freedmen Affairs Agency which would, among other things, implement and oversee the implementation of the recommendations of the Task Force. SB 490 died in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

AB 1950 (Carrillo, 2024) would have established the Chavez Ravine Displaced Residents Task Force, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, for the purpose of investigating whether and how to provide compensation to former residents and landowners displaced from the Chavez Ravine area of Los Angeles between 1950 and 1961, as specified. AB 1950 was vetoed by the Governor, who stated in his veto message that “a task force to study the events that occurred should be established at the local level.”

AB 2296 (Jones-Sawyer, 2022), would have made it easier for members of the Task Force to be removed, allowed officers of the Task Force to be removed by a majority vote of the members, and extended the July 1, 2023, sunset on the Task Force to July 1, 2024. The bill was passed by the Legislature but vetoed by Governor Newsom, whose veto message stated that he was vetoing the bill at the request of the author of the original legislation that created the Task force.

SB 796 (Bradford, Ch. 435, Stats. 2021) required the Director of Parks and Recreation, by December 31, 2021, to execute a deed amendment to exclude Bruce’s Beach, a portion of land within Manhattan State Beach, from the requirement to use the property for recreational purposes only; and authorized Los Angeles County to sell, transfer, or encumber Bruce’s Beach, upon terms and conditions determined by the county board of supervisors to be in the best interest of the county and the general public.

AB 3121 (Weber, Ch. 319, Stats. 2020) established the Task Force and its mission, with a sunset date of July 1, 2023.

**************

1. HR 40 (Pressley, 119th Cong., 2025-2026), a federal bill to create a federal commission to study the effects of slavery and discrimination on African Americans and devise reparations proposals, is pending before the House Committee on Judiciary. The bill has been introduced every year since 1989. ↑

2. California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, Interim Report (June 1, 2022), available at https://oag.ca.gov/ab3121/reports. All links in this analysis are current as of April 18, 2025. ↑

3. Id. at p. 5. ↑

4. See generally California Reparations Report (2023), available at https://oag.ca.gov/ab3121/report. ↑

5. Id. at p. 4. ↑

6. Id. at p. 48. ↑

7. Id. at p. 512. ↑

8. Id. at p. 687. ↑

9. Final Report, supra, at p. 687. ↑

10. See SB 1403 (Bradford, 2024); SB 1050 (Bradford, 2024). ↑

11. U.S. Const., 5th amend.; Cal. Const., art. I, § 19. ↑

12. Kirby Forest Industries, Inc. v. U.S. (1984) 467 U.S. 1, 9-10 (internal quotation marks omitted). ↑

13. See, e.g., California Reparations Report, supra at pp. 209-210. ↑

14. Los Angeles Chief Executive Office, Bruce’s Beach (2024), https://ceo.lacounty.gov/ardi/bruces-beach/; Xia, Manhattan Beach was once home to Black beachgoers, but the city ran them out. Now it faces a reckoning, Los Angeles Times (Aug. 2, 2020), available at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-02/bruces-beach-manhattan-beach. ↑

15. Shatkin, The Ugly, Violent Clearing of Chavez Ravine Before It Was Home To The Dodgers, LAist (Oct. 17, 2018; updated May 1, 2023), https://laist.com/news/la-history/dodger-stadium-chavez-ravine-battle; Baxter, Orphans of the Ravine, Los Angeles Times (Mar. 29, 2008), https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-mar-29-sp-ravine29-story.html. ↑

16. See SB 796 (Bradford, Ch. 435, Stats. 2021). ↑

17. California Reparations Report, supra, at p. 636. ↑

18. Id. at p. 687. ↑

19. Gov. Code, tit. 2, div. 4, pt. 7, §§ 17500 et seq. ↑

20. Quarry v. Doe I (Quarry) (2012) 53 Cal.4th 945, 955-957. ↑

21. See U.S. Const., 14th amend., § 1; Cal. Const., art I, § 7. ↑

22. This is not a distinction without a difference. Because race is, fundamentally, a social construct dependent in part on phenotypical generalizations, it is a virtual certainty that multiracial individuals who do not “look Black” will qualify as descendants. And, because this is a bill about the moral debt owed to persons who were the victim of state-sanctioned chattel slavery, it is worth noting that a substantial portion of the Black people in America have so-called “white” ancestry because their ancestors were enslavers who raped enslaved women with impunity. (California Reparations Report, supra, at p. 436.) ↑

23. See 50 U.S.C. § 4202. ↑

24. Cal. Const. art. I, § 31 (added by initiative measure (Prop. 209, approved Nov. 5, 1996), eff. Nov. 6, 1996). ACA 7 (Jackson, 2024) would have asked the voters to repeal Proposition 209; the resolution died in this Committee. ↑

25. See Cal. Const., art. XVI, § 6. ↑