Sacramento, California - Governor Gavin Newsom signed the new Truth in Disclosure Act, making California the first US state to require that corporations declare whether they profited from slavery.
Newsom signed AB 2599, named the Truth in Disclosure Act, into law on Thursday. The bill, authored by California State Assemblyman Isaac Bryan, was a key priority for the California Legislative Black Caucus and was championed by the Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation, and Truth (ARRT).
Under the new law, any corporation doing business in California that earns an annual revenue of $100 million or more will be required to disclose whether they or any of their predecessors engaged in or profited from slavery.
Such declarations must be submitted by sworn affidavits, meaning that they are subject to perjury penalties. Only companies that existed before December 31, 1964, or whose predecessor existed prior to that date, will be required to make such declarations.
The documents must show that the company has searched through all records relating to whether it "bought or sold persons subjected to slavery, used persons subjected to slavery as collateral, provided loans to purchase persons subjected to slavery."
"California will become the first state in the nation to force corporations to disclose their historic ties to slavery," Bryan wrote in a statement on X. "The people should know the wealth that compounded privately through generations… In California, they will."
The ARRT celebrated the legislative win – Newsom's signature was the last hurdle the bill needed to pass to become law in the state of California – declaring that AB 2599 is "accountability in action."
"Reparations are not a distant idea, they are happening NOW!" the organization wrote in a statement. "AB 2599 was just the first step, stay tuned."