Newsom vetoes several reparations bills, signs others

S1: Welcome in San Diego. I'm Andrew Bowen , filling in for Jade Hindman on today's show. California breaks new ground in the fight for reparations. But who will benefit and how ? This is KPBS Midday Edition. Connecting our communities through conversation. Last night , Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed several bills that were part of the statewide reparations effort. The vetoed. The vetoed bills were related to university admissions , home buying , and unjust property seizures. This comes days after Newsom signed Senate Bill 518 to establish a state bureau for descendants of American slavery. Joining me with the details is Katie Hyson. She covers racial justice and Social Equity for KPBS. And Katie , welcome to the show.

S2: Glad to be here.

S1: So Newsom vetoed a series of bills last night. Prior to that , he had signed some of them. Before we get into the specifics of all of these bills. Remind us how we got to this point.

S2: It took us a century and a half since emancipation for a state to take concrete steps towards reparations like this. But since California started the ball rolling , it's rolled pretty fast. It created a reparations task force in 2020. They issued their final report with more than 100 recommendations in 2023. Governor Newsom issued a formal apology for California's role in slavery and racism in 2024. And then just days ago , he signed into law a bill creating a Bureau of Descendants of American slavery , and he also signed into law a bill funding universities to develop a system to confirm eligibility. But last night , he vetoed several other reparations related bills.

S1: So let's start with AB seven. One of these bills that was on his desk. This has to do with university admissions. So explain what the goal is here.

S2: So generally the state constitution prohibits discriminating or giving preferential treatment to anyone based on race. This bill would have allowed California State University and the University of California to consider giving admissions preference to an applicant who is a descendant of an enslaved person.

S1: And AB 57 was another one that the governor vetoed that was related to first time homebuyer.

S2: We saw those funds run out very fast after it was first launched , but there should be ongoing new funds coming in. AB 57 would have set aside 10% of those funds for certified descendants of formerly enslaved people.

S1: And then two other bills , Abe , 62 and Abe 742 , were also vetoed by Newsom. He said that they would strain state resources. Tell me about those bills and what they would have done.

S2: Abe , 62 , would have established a claims process for people to seek restitution for property taken through racially motivated , eminent domain. So , for example , the government took someone's private property to build a freeway through it , and they didn't fairly compensate the person at that time. And the reason they didn't fairly compensate them was because of their race. So that Bill would have allowed that person to now make a claim for that fair compensation. Abe 742 would have required the Department of Consumer Affairs , which licenses for hundreds of professions like doctors and cosmetologist , to expedite applications for descendants of formerly enslaved people.

S1: And so some of these bills , you know , actually putting money behind the reparations effort was what made them , you know , not quite cross the finish line.

S2: This morning , they issued a statement that they're profoundly disappointed by the vetoes of these bills. They say , you know , creating the bureau and the eligibility system is a meaningful step. But they called the governor's support selective and said it undermines the vision of comprehensive reparations that began with the task force. They say Black Californians have waited generations for structural change , not what they call partial progress. And they ended their statement with this quote. At this stage , anything less than full commitment feels like a retreat from the promise of truth , reconciliation and justice. Hmm.

S1: Hmm. So just a few days ago , Governor Newsom was applauded by these advocates for signing SB 518. This bill , or now law , establishes a bureau for descendants of American slavery.

S2: Hmm.

S1: Hmm.

S2: I'm told that search process could take up to a year , and then the director would build out the bureau from there. But the bureau also needs the governor and the legislature to allocate it funding before it can actually operate. And I'm told that the university system has three years to develop that system for determining who qualifies. So , you know , it won't be overnight.

S1: And you spoke to State Senator Akilah Weber Pearson , who authored that bill , S.B. 518.

S2: And here's what she said.

S3: It's very difficult for me to put into words. It is a feeling. It is a struggle. It is a journey that those who are descendants of American slavery have been fighting for ever since emancipation. The issue of reparations , the issue of reparative justice , um , has been something that our ancestors have fought for for generations and generations. And so to see this finally start to happen , the foundation with the agency is something absolutely incredible.

S2: She talks about ancestors fighting for this for generations , but it's also a very immediate generational fight for her because her mother , who's now Secretary of State Shirley Weber , was actually the ones who authored the bill creating the Reparations Task Force.

S1: A bit of family legacy there. Before these bills got to Newsom's desk. You spoke to Cheryl Grills , who was a member of the state's reparations task force. She said the bills represent a first step and that the public's trust was on the line.

S2: And here's what she said at that time.

S4: It is very traumatizing. And it has a it it would smack of dishonesty , right ? Because on one hand you're saying , yes , something happened and we need to understand it to its fullest extent and then we need to address it. And so you say that on one hand. And so then when we point out everything and then nothing is done.

S2: It's one thing to develop systems , but I think Californians , especially those who might qualify for reparations , will be waiting to see whether this bureau meaningfully affects their lives.

S1: Now , last year , there were a couple of bills that failed to pass the state legislature , and grill said that that had to do with disagreement over which black Americans should be eligible for reparations. Tell me more about that.

S2: Now , many people , including girls herself , took issue with the genealogy requirement and a lot of these bills requiring people to establish that they're a descendant of an enslaved person of African descent in order to receive the benefits. And the big argument was that post slavery , racism and discrimination has harmed and continues to harm all black Americans. When a police officer pulls someone over , or when someone's considering whether or not to grant someone alone , they're not asking about their genealogy or if they're from the Caribbean rather than the continent of Africa. Right. They're only seeing the color of their skin , and that contention hasn't gone away. But ultimately , Grylls says , the bills passed this year because of a wave of community support that wasn't there last year. And centering programs on on genealogy rather than race might protect them from some of the legal attacks on race based programs that we're seeing unfold across the country.

S1: You mentioned community support helping carry some of these bills to the finish line. What does that community support look like ? And tell me about how it's been changing or making itself known to us.

S2: She says at last count , more than 8000 letters were sent to the governor's office in support , and that's across racial lines. And she says about a third of those were from white Californians , almost a fifth from Asian Californians. And so that support from allies really helped push these bills into law this year.

S1:

S2: If you create the framework for repair but veto the specific actions of repair , that's like building a hospital and hiring the doctors and not opening the doors to patients. Hmm.

S1: Hmm. Well , I've been speaking with KPBS racial justice and social equity reporter Katie Hyson. Katie , thank you for sharing your reporting on this.

S2: Thanks for having me.