The California Reparations Task Force formally recommended that the state offer payments of up to $1.2 million to every qualifying Black resident.
The nine-member committee, which first convened nearly two years ago, held a public meeting in Oakland Saturday and voted on the final set of recommendations to be sent to the state’s legislators. In October 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed Bill AB 3121, creating the nation’s first-ever task force to study and recommend reparations for slavery. California entered the Union as a free state in 1850.
Lawmakers will now decide on whether to move forward with the plan. Critics say the reparations could cost California more than $800 billion, as the state has a $22 billion budget deficit.
The panel’s recommendation breaks payments down by types of “historical discrimination.”Black residents affected by “redlining” by banks would receive $3,366 for each year they lived in California from the 1930s to the 1970s, adding up to $148,099. Black residents could receive roughly $2,352 in compensation for “over-policing” and “mass incarceration” for each year they lived in California between 1970 and 2020. Those payments could amount to $115,260.
In total, a Black California resident who is 71 years old and has lived in California their entire life could receive up to $1.2 million, according to analysis from the New York Times.