Sacramento, CA—Today, the California legislature’s fiscal committees passed several of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) priority bills, sending the measures to a full Floor vote.
Road to Repair 2025, the CLBC’s priority bill package relating to the descendants of chattel slavery, furthers the Caucus’ commitment to level the playing field and widen access for the descendants of formerly enslaved people in our state.
Doubling-down on California’s commitment to the proper recognition of the state’s role in perpetuating the human slave trade, the CLBC continues to push for parity for those foundational Black Americans whose contributions provided for the Golden State’s prosperity.
Road to Repair bills now head to both the Senate and Assembly for a full vote before the legislature’s recess adjournment on September 12.
Road to Repair Priority Bills headed to a Floor vote:
• SB 518 (Weber Pierson)—Establishes the Bureau of Descendants of American Slavery.
• SB 437 (Weber Pierson)—Would require the California State University to independently research scientific methodologies for determining an individual’s genealogical fingerprint and make recommendations for state-level implementation verification of descendancy and mechanisms for redress for slavery descendants.
• SB 464 (Smallwood-Cuevas)—seeks to expand employer-employee demographic data reporting to the Civil Rights Department for the purpose of enforcing civil rights protections.
• SB 503 (Weber Pierson)—seeks to mitigate racial biases within artificial intelligence models used in critical healthcare applications.
• AB 7 (Bryan)—would authorize priority admissions for descendants of American chattel slavery to higher education institutions.
• AB 57 (McKinnor)—seeks to allocate a portion of Home Purchase Assistance Funds to first-time home buyers who are descendants of American chattel slavery.
• AB 62 (McKinnor)—seeks to create pathways for victims of racially-motivated eminent domain to seek redress.
• AB 742 (Elhawary)—would add verified descendants of American chattel slaves as a priority group when issuing professional licenses.
• AB 935 (Ransom)—would require the Civil Rights Department to publish anonymized data on civil rights complaints.
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