Sacramento, California - California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill establishing a state government agency which will administer reparations for descendants of formerly enslaved people.

According to the California Legislative Information website, SB 158 was officially approved by Newsom on Friday.

The legislation officially creates the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery, which will be part of California's Civil Rights Department and is tasked among others with:

• establishing the eligibility of applicants, who must be direct descendants of people subjected to slavery before 1900;
• running a public education campaign on the lasting impact of redlining and other discriminatory housing policies;
• addressing the ongoing harms of California's history long history of racial discrimination against Black people, as identified in the California Reparations Task Force's historic 2023 report.

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The bill – introduced by Senator Akilah Weber Pierson, chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus – does not allocate the new agency any funds, which will depend on California's annual budget or a separate act.

"This law reflects a critical acknowledgment of the historic injustices that have shaped the Black experience in California and across this country,” Weber Pierson said in a CLBC statement.

"For generations, Black Americans have faced exclusion, exploitation, and systemic barriers to opportunity. With SB 518, we lay the foundation for a future built on truth, equity, and repair," she added.

Reactions to the news among reparations advocates were mixed.

On the one hand, the Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation, and Truth praised Newsom, calling the bill "directly in line with the final recommendations put forth by the California Reparations Task Force."

The group also called on the governor to sign into law a bill addressing the injustice of race-based uses of eminent domain, something that Newsom has previously vetoed.

On the other hand, the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California called SB 158 a "bait and switch," criticizing language that it says leaves the door open for applicants who are not descendants of people formerly enslaved in the US.