Governor Newsom signs reparations measures and corporate disclosure law in California
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a suite of reparations‑related measures on Oct. 5, 2026, creating the Bureau of Descendants of American Slavery, earmarking $6 million for university research, and mandating corporate disclosure of profits tied to slavery.
The actions move the state further along a path set by the three‑year‑old Report of the California Task Force to Study and Develop Reparations Proposals for African Americans, a document that spans more than 1,000 pages and outlines a broad range of policy options.
The newly created Bureau will oversee the implementation of reparations initiatives and serve as a permanent point of contact for descendants seeking recognition. At the same time, Newsom allocated $6 million to California State University to fund research on methods for identifying individuals who descend from American slaves, a step intended to ground future programs in rigorous scholarship.
In a separate bill, Newsom required publicly traded corporations to disclose any historical profits generated from slave labor. The disclosure law is designed to increase transparency and inform the public about the lingering economic impacts of slavery, aligning with the state’s broader social‑justice agenda.
Despite these advances, Newsom vetoed several reparations bills that would have allowed the University of California system to give preferential consideration to descendants of slaves, citing potential conflicts with Proposition 209, the state constitutional amendment that bars public institutions from discriminating based on race. Advocates of reparations are now pushing a new referendum to repeal Proposition 209, a measure scheduled for the 2028 ballot.
The next phase will see the Bureau begin its work, the university research program launch, and corporations prepare their disclosure reports, while voters and legislators watch the 2028 referendum campaign for signs of how California’s reparations agenda will evolve.
