As defense attorneys advance in California, compensation authority seeks compensation beyond a "single check"

California's Truth in Disclosure Act is now law, but compensation advocates say corporate transparency is only the beginning of a bigger fight.

The California compensator argued that the cash was necessary and that compensation was not sought for slave labor.

Racial reparations advocates celebrated in California after Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2599 — the Truth in Disclosure Act — into law. But key figures behind the effort say corporate transparency is only a starting point, stressing that direct cash compensation remains necessary.

"We're really focusing on an injury-based approach, so anyone who's injured should have the right to that repair," Niemers said. Slavery reparations, unpaid labor, 40 acres and a mule promised after slavery ended - should go to people who have lineage and are descendants of people who were enslaved, because that is the injury that is being repaired.

Compensation advocates criticize cash compensation 'prescriptive' label, harkens back to past government solutions

A California lawmaker is trying to make sure that compensation payments to black residents aren't taxed if the effort goes through. (iStock)

However, Niemers emphasized that racial inequalities persisted long after the end of indentured servitude.

Nimmers added: "Black Americans were denied wages. We were denied property. We were denied access to capital. We were denied access to equal education — all over the course of hundreds of years." "And so a single review will not restore our communities as a whole."

AB 2599 requires eligible companies doing business in California with more than $100 million in gross revenue to search their historical records and publicly disclose any financial ties to domestic slavery. Lawmakers and advocacy groups are already trying to use the bill's passage as a move to turn broader recommendations from the California Compensation Task Force into law.

During the multi-year tenure of the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans (established under AB 3121), CBPN served as the state's official community anchor. The coalition facilitated grassroots civic engagement across California and held hearings to gather public testimony that directly informed the task force's 1,100-page final report, due in 2023.

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As state officials struggle to issue some form of reparations for slavery or other past racial injustices, black New Yorkers are demanding cash reparations from the state.

However, the path forward for direct cash payments remains difficult. While Newsom signed AB 2599, the governor has consistently taken a cautious stance on direct funding, resisting high-cost spending proposals and vetoing related funding measures supported by progressive lawmakers.

Progressive coalitions also face internal ideological divisions within the broader movement. Grassroots organizations such as the US Freedmen Project—consisting of a "fundamental" self-identified Black American"—vehemently oppose broader, trauma-based eligibility frameworks. The group aims to educate the public about the legal and historical distinctions between African Americans who are directly enslaved in the United States and those who voluntarily immigrated to the country in recent decades.

Nimmers retreated from ancestry-only requirements, arguing that systematic discrimination in the 20th century affected a wider range of black residents.

NEWSOM first in nation to force law on big companies to reveal slavery-era ties: 'Make it public'

The groups cite reparations as a broader structural change in the "racial wealth gap," policing and prisons, "environmental racism," and "underfunded schools."

"If you're black — maybe a black immigrant who came here in the 1950s before the Civil Rights Act was passed — then you've experienced segregated schools," Nimmers said. “If you experience segregated schools, if you experience redlining, and we're providing some kind of policy or some kind of fix for those things, then you should be in the group that gets fixed. "It's not really a lineage-based approach, but more of an injury-based approach."

While cash offers have stalled at the state level, local initiatives have moved forward. Earlier this year, the Compensation Committee in Evanston, Illinois, approved $25,000 in housing grants to 44 black residents. City officials focused on housing, calling historic redlining and discriminatory zoning "the strongest case for compensation."

For California advocates, the long-term goal is a comprehensive package that includes both financial reparations and systemic policy reform.

Joshua focuses on cultural trends, education and public policy. He has extensively covered compensation developments throughout the United States, Department of Education and immigration issues.

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