By Antonio Ray Harvey

California Black Media

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed Senate Bill (SB) 518, landmark legislation creating California’s Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery — the first state agency in the nation dedicated to implementing reparations for Black Americans.

“A few days ago, I, with a few other members of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), met with Gov. Newsom as he signed my bill SB 518 – the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery,” said Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson (D-San Diego), chair of the CLBC and author of the bill. “California has taken a monumental and historic step toward justice, becoming the first state in the nation to create a permanent agency dedicated to reparative justice for Black Americans.”

Authored by Weber Pierson, SB 518 establishes a permanent state agency tasked with implementing reparations policies for descendants of enslaved African Americans and those whose families were harmed by racially motivated eminent domain in California. The Bureau will verify eligibility, safeguard privacy, educate the public, and coordinate future reparative justice initiatives.

“For centuries, the descendants of enslaved people have endured hardship, exclusion, and systemic injustice that denied them access to opportunity and equality,” Weber-Pierson said in a statement. “SB 518 is a step toward acknowledging that painful truth and creating the structures needed to repair it. This bill represents hope, responsibility, and a commitment to make right what was wrong for far too long.”

The legislation was directly based on policy recommendations from the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, which issued its comprehensive final report in June 2023. The task force was created through Assembly Bill (AB) 3121, authored by current Secretary of State Shirley Weber in 2020, to research the history of discrimination against Black Californians and recommend remedies for compensation and atonement.

SB 518 is part of the CLBC’s Road to Repair 2025 Priority Bill Package, which aims to implement the task force’s recommendations. The bill was supported by 15 community, equity, and legal organizations, along with three former task force members, including former chairperson Kamilah V. Moore.

Moore previously supported a similar bill, SB 1403 by former Sen. Steven Bradford (D-Inglewood), which stalled in August 2024 after the CLBC opted not to advance it. Despite her disappointment at the time, she said SB 518 represents meaningful progress. “It’s great news in a sense,” Moore said. “It’s not exactly what was delineated in the task force report, but it is something we can work with.”

Not all advocates share that optimism. The Coalition for a Just and Equitable California (CJEC) has criticized SB 518, arguing it doesn’t go far enough to provide immediate redress. “Let’s be clear — SB 518 is not real Reparations, nor is it a step closer to real Reparations,” CJEC spokesperson Chris Lodgson said. “It’s a bureaucratic shell that delays Reparations, expands beyond the lineage it claims to serve, and diverts precious time and resources away from the real work of repair.”

Khansa “Friday Jones” Jones-Muhammad, vice president of the Los Angeles Reparations Advisory Commission and president of the National Assembly of American Slavery, said she still prefers Bradford’s earlier bill but is prepared to move forward. “With the signing of SB 518 by Gavin Newsom, the California Legislative Black Caucus has an opportunity to repair the feelings of betrayal that advocates experienced when two reparations bills were sent to a suspense file last year,” she said.

Weber Pierson said she and the CLBC remain committed to addressing structural disparities in California. “SB 518 is not just policy – it is a promise kept,” she said. “It honors the truth, dignity, and humanity of descendants of enslaved people and begins the process of healing wounds that have gone unaddressed for generations.”

According to the bill’s language, the Bureau’s implementation will depend on funding from the Legislature and may also receive federal, state, and non-governmental grants. Over time, the Bureau is expected to expand its scope to address additional historical harms as part of the state’s broader reparative justice efforts.