Tempering expectations on reparations

PAYING FOR THE PAST: California lawmakers are about to be handed a recommendation to fork over billions of dollars to account for the state’s history of discrimination towards Black residents.

But the leaders who will be tasked with translating that plan into law are offering a reality check before the final report is even in their hands.

“I have infinite hope that we will get something done,” state Sen. Steven Bradford, who sits on California’s landmark reparations task force, told reporters today. “But I’m smart enough to know that, as we’ve seen with police reform, as we’ve seen with any involuntary servitude, there are many individuals even with a D behind their name that can’t bring themselves to vote and correct the wrongs that still exist in California.”

After nearly two years of closely watched deliberations, the task force has approved a recommendation to pay up to $1.2 million each to descendants of slaves, depending on how long they’ve lived in the state. The report will be delivered to Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature on July 1, kicking off the process of crafting a bill — or, more likely, a package of bills — enshrining the nation’s first statewide reparations law.

The task force proposes delivering Black Californians a substantial “down payment” in the form of cash, while developing programs to repair harms caused by health disparities, mass incarceration and housing discrimination. A team of economists hired by the panel came up with some price tags last month:

  • Health disparities: $13,619 for each year of residency.
  • Mass incarceration: $2,352 for each year of residency in California during the War on Drugs from 1971 to 2020.
  • Housing discrimination: $3,366 for each year of residency from 1933 and 1977.

Both Bradford and Newsom, however, have made it clear that the end result may not include cash.

Newsom caused a stir with a statement to Fox News Tuesday in which he hedged on the issue of direct compensation, saying reparations are “about much more than cash payments. Anthony York, a spokesperson for the governor’s office, later sought to clarify that Newsom hasn’t ruled out cash payments. The governor, he said, is waiting for a final report before making any decisions.

Bradford said he supports sending checks to Black Californians, but he also laid out options for non-cash alternatives, including housing assistance programs, educational support and more funding for health care.

Getting lawmakers to sign off on cash payments will be more difficult, he said.

“You need 41 votes in the Assembly and 21 in the Senate,” he said, “and I’m realistic enough to know that we might not have colleagues who are willing to do that.”

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

RECOVERY TIME: Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s doctors recommended she work a “lighter schedule” due to continued side effects from the shingles virus, she said in a statement after returning to Washington D.C. on Tuesday following a prolonged absence. The senator cast her first vote on Wednesday afternoon, adding the first two votes of the day to the 91 she’s missed since early March. Her return is seen as key to Democrats as Congress fights over the debt limit. Feinstein’s statement also said she hopes the side effects will subside as she continues to recover.

On The Beats

BURNING OUT: Insurance companies have gotten so fearful of catastrophic wildfire losses in California that some people are finding it impossible to build or even stay in their homes — a problem that keeps getting worse despite recent moves by lawmakers and regulators to help the market.

Nearly all large-scale housing developments in areas at high fire risk have had to pause building because they can’t find an insurer willing to provide coverage, Dan Dunmoyer, the president of the California Building Association, told lawmakers in a California Senate hearing Wednesday. And residents of condo buildings and homeowner associations in fire-prone areas have seen their insurance bills go up, sometimes adding thousands to their monthly HOA fees, because only expensive insurers not subject to California’s regulations are willing to write them policies.

State Sen. Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park), who chairs the insurance committee, said steps lawmakers and regulators took to help people afford insurance, like requiring the last-resort insurer to increase its coverage options, were “necessary, but not sustainable” because they haven’t eased the pressure on insurers.

FREE TO FEED: The U.S. Department of Justice is getting involved in a Santa Ana lawsuit, saying the city’s decision to restrict a faith-based organization from feeding homeless people is a violation of religious freedom. The DOJ filed a statement of interest Wednesday in Micah’s Way v. the City of Santa Ana, where the religious group is suing after the city denied an occupancy certificate on the grounds that it was providing food and drinks to homeless people in violation of the city’s zoning laws. Santa Ana is arguing that the action is not a religiously-protected act, but the DOJ is saying it could be a violation under the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.

“Religious groups should be entitled to exercise their religion by providing charitable services based in their religious beliefs,” U.S. Attorney Martin Estrada for the Central District of California said in a statement. “Our office firmly opposes actions that block religious groups from carrying out their spiritual mission to help others in need.” — Lara Korte

POWER SHARING: An effort to expand energy cooperation between California and its Western neighbors appears to be losing steam. The bill in question, from Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena), would create a new Western power agency that would make it easier for California to import excess power from states such as Colorado and Wyoming.

Advocates see it as a necessary step as California phases out fossil fuels from its power grid by 2045. But AB 538 has attracted powerful opponents and appears to be faltering ahead of a key Assembly Appropriations Committee hearing next week. Critics say the bill would erode some of the state’s authority and open the door to more fossil fuels, including coal. They also warn that California ratepayers could get stuck with big bills for transmission lines to import power and that the change would send green energy jobs out of state.

California’s time to act could be running out. The Southwest Power Pool — Arkansas’ version of the California Independent System Operator — is making a bid to get Western states to join it instead. — Wes Venteicher

AROUND CALIFORNIA

— “As California attempts a ‘managed retreat,’ coastal homeowners sue to stay,” by Grist’s Jake Bittle: “The California Association of Realtors founded a lobbying organization to advocate against the policy, giving more than $1 million to the effort. The Pacific Legal Foundation, a leading conservative legal fund, has funded several lawsuits against the commission’s decisions to limit shoreline armoring; in one case, the foundation managed to overturn a decision denying a sea wall permit for a vulnerable mobile home park in Orange County.”

— “Inmates leaving California prisons may be armed with Narcan to reduce overdose risk,” by Don Thompson for KFF Health News: “More than 80% of inmates released in California between April 2020 and June 2022 departed with antidote kits and the training that goes with them, according to a January study by corrections officials. Acceptance has continued to grow, with 95% of departing inmates accepting Narcan in July 2022, the most recent month with data.”

— “Can California find better paying jobs for people with disabilities?,” by CalMatters’ Jeanne Kuang: “The new law requires that all subminimum wage workshops phase out. Whether their participants end up in better jobs, or with little to occupy their days, in large part depends on how California’s disability services system responds.”

MIXTAPE

— “Striking satellite photos show the dramatic scale of California’s 2023 snowpack,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Terry Castleman

— “Community colleges had a deadline to serve struggling students. Did they hit it?,” by CalMatters’ Adam Echelman

— “Fresno Unified sees 30% spike in homeless student population. ‘Everything is getting harder’,” by the Fresno Bee’s Julianna Morano