Bill Text: CA SB490 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: California American Freedmen Affairs Agency.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Engrossed) 2023-08-22 - From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on JUD. [SB490 Detail]
Download: California-2023-SB490-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
August 22, 2023 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Bill
No. 490
| Introduced by Senator Bradford |
February 14, 2023 |
An act to amend Section 8301.7 of add Part 14 (commencing with Section 16000) to Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, relating to state government, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. government.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 490, as amended, Bradford.
Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans. California American Freedmen Affairs Agency.
Existing law establishes
Former law, until July 1, 2023, established the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States (Task Force). Under existing law, the Task Force consists of 9 members, with 5 members appointed by the Governor, 2 members appointed by the President pro Tempore of the Senate, and 2 members appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly. Existing law establishes
the term of office for members as the life of the Task Force.
Existing law requires
Former law required the Task Force, among other things, to identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies, as specified, and to recommend the form of compensation that should be awarded, the instrumentalities through which it should be awarded, and who should be eligible for this compensation. Existing law requires the Task Force to submit a written report of its findings and recommendations to the Legislature within one year of the first meeting of the Task Force, as prescribed. Existing law repeals these provisions on July 1, 2023.
This bill would extend the operation of these provisions until July 1, 2024.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency
statute.
This bill would establish the California American Freedmen Affairs Agency in state government, under the control of the director, who would be appointed by the Governor. The bill would require the agency to implement the recommendations of the Task Force, as approved by the Legislature and the Governor. To accomplish this goal, the bill would require the agency to be comprised of specified offices, including a Genealogy Office and an Office of Strategic Communications and Media Affairs that would be responsible for specified duties related to reparations and claims.
The bill would also require the agency to oversee and monitor existing state agencies and departments tasked with engaging in direct implementation of the policies that fall within the scope of the existing state agencies and departments’ authority. In that regard, the bill would establish specified offices within the agency to provide prescribed oversight of
existing state agencies and departments, such as a Social Services and Family Affairs Office to provide oversight of existing state agencies’ efforts to identify and mitigate the ways that current and previous policies have damaged and destabilized descendant families. Among other things, the bill would also require the agency to include certain offices, including a Medical Services Office and a Legal Affairs Office, to perform other specified oversight and monitoring duties related to the goals of the Task Force.
Digest Key
Vote:Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Part 14 (commencing with Section 16000) is added to Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code, to read:PART 14. California American Freedman Affairs Agency
CHAPTER 1. Definitions
16000.
For purposes of this part:(a) “Agency” means the California American Freedman Affairs Agency.
(b) “Descendants” means African American descendants of a chattel enslaved person, or descendants of a free Black person living in the United States prior to the end of the 19th century.
(c) “Director” means the Director of the California American Freedman Affairs Agency.
(d) “Task force” means the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United
States as established under former Section 8301.1.
CHAPTER 2. General
16001.
(a) The California American Freedman Affairs Agency is hereby established in state government. The agency shall be under the direct control of a director, who shall be responsible to the Governor.(b) The Governor shall appoint the director of the agency who shall perform all duties, exercise all powers, assume and discharge all responsibilities, and carry out and effect all purposes vested by law in the office.
(c) The salary of the director of the agency shall be fixed pursuant to Section 12001.
CHAPTER 3. Powers and Duties
16002.
The agency shall implement the recommendations of the task force, as approved by the Legislature and the Governor. To accomplish this goal, the agency shall include all of the following offices:(a) A Genealogy Office to support potential reparations claimants by providing access to expert genealogical research to confirm reparations eligibility and expedited assistance with the reparations claims process.
(b) An Office of Strategic Communications and Media Affairs to provide streamlined access to information and services to assist the descendant community, the media, and the general public in understanding the work performed by the agency.
(c) A Community Support Office to improve accessibility, transparency, and public trust in California’s reparations program and its claims process.
(d) A Business Affairs Office to do all of the following:
(1) Provide support in the establishment of a Freedmen’s Savings and Trust Bank.
(2) Support for entrepreneurialism and a foundation for financial literacy.
(3) Provide business grants and assistance in obtaining business licenses.
(4) Employment training and apprenticeship programs to train unhoused descendants for employment in housing construction and related trades.
(5) Establish public-private reparative
justice-oriented partnerships.
(e) An Office of the Chief Financial Officer to provide policy leadership in strategic planning, budgeting, and financial management. The Chief Financial Officer’s duties shall include all of the following:
(1) Processing claims for direct compensation in the five atrocity areas as identified by the task force.
(2) Conducting internal audits for management purposes, to evaluate the efficiency, economy, effectiveness, financial aspects, or other features of the agency, its branches, and programs.
(3) Administration, including, but not limited to, auditing of contracts and grants.
(4) Assisting in the establishment of a state-sponsored or state-chartered
Freedmen’s Savings and Trust Bank to service the descendant community.
(5) Potentially collaborating with 501(c)(4) organizations where beneficial to the goals and purpose of the agency.
(6) Administer the compensation funds approved by the Legislature and the Governor, for all those eligible to receive compensation.
(f) A Creative, Cultural, and Intellectual Affairs Office to address the disruption of cultural centers in the name of redevelopment, and to address the history of censorship of descendant-produced media and arts. The duties of this office shall include all of the following:
(1) Building, restoring, and maintaining American Freedmen, African American, and descendant cultural and historical sites, creative centers, public displays, and
monuments.
(2) Advocating for and monitoring the removal of harmful relics.
(3) Supporting knowledge production and archival research with community archives and repositories.
(4) Supporting legacy families.
(5) Providing support for descendants in the arts, entertainment, and sports industries, including, but not limited to, identifying and removing barriers to advancement into leadership and decisionmaking positions in these industries.
(6) Supporting descendants in news publications, arts, including, but not limited to, film, radio, television, podcasting, and new media, and lifestyle activities.
(7) Supporting parity in
sports participation, coaching, management, and ownership.
(g) A Data Research and Collection Office to identify and analyze trends in past, current, and potential future badges and incidents of chattel slavery, and to advise the Governor, Legislature, and other state and local governmental entities as to policy changes designed to heal and repair the descendant community from these badges and incidents.
(h) A Civic Engagement and Self-determination Office to support ongoing education on African American history and political engagement, and to support civic engagement, political participation, and self-determination among the descendant community.
(i) An Office of General Counsel to provide legal advice, counsel, and services to the agency and its officials, and to ensure that the agency’s programs are administered
in accordance with applicable legislative authority. The General Counsel shall also advise the head of the agency on legislative, legal, and regulatory initiatives and serve as an external liaison on legal matters with other state agencies and other entities.
16003.
The agency shall oversee and monitor existing state agencies and departments tasked with engaging in direct implementation of the policies that fall within the scope of the existing state agencies and departments’ authority. The agency’s oversight and monitoring shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:(a) An Education Office to do all of the following:
(1) To provide oversight and monitoring of the payment of tuition to the state’s community colleges, the California State University, and the University of California for California residents who are descendants, and to ensure that existing state educational agencies eliminate barriers to higher education for descendants.
(2) To encourage, oversee, and monitor the building of infrastructure for the operation of new freedmen schools, colleges, and universities.
(3) To provide oversight and monitoring of educational grants and support education initiatives focused on descendants.
(b) A Social Services and Family Affairs Office to provide oversight of existing state agencies’ efforts to identify and mitigate the ways that current and previous policies implemented by existing agencies have damaged and destabilized descendant families. The office’s oversight shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:
(1) Monitoring of existing state agencies’ recruitment and training of descendants in industries that assist descendant seniors, such as health care systems.
(2) Providing housing advocates and housing attorneys to assist with housing and houselessness.
(3) Providing financial and social support services for housing unhoused relatives.
(4) Developing a hotline to report harms related to housing.
(5) Providing financial support services to support descendant homeownership.
(6) Ensuring treatment for trauma and family healing services to strengthen family unity.
(7) Providing descendant-informed mental health and stress resiliency services, financial planning services, career planning services, and civil and family court services.
(c) A Medical Services Office to provide oversight and monitor the state’s effort to provide technical assistance for community wellness centers in local descendant communities across the state to do all of the following:
(1) Decrease state-sanctioned health harms, including, but not limited to, mental, physical, and public health harms and neglect.
(2) Decrease mental health stigma.
(3) Teach stress-reduction and resilience tools.
(4) Create communal spaces.
(5) Support cultural and racial socialization to support mental health.
(6) Provide community-defined evidence and promising practices for prevention and
early intervention mental health programs.
(7) Offer mental and physical health screening and referrals.
(d) A Labor and Employment Office to oversee and monitor labor and employment discrimination and benefits claims involving the descendant community handled by other state-level complaint investigation and adjudication agencies.
(e) A Development Office to provide oversight and monitoring of state-sponsored and state-funded infrastructure development to ensure that descendants receive a proportionate share of the development of housing, including subdivisions, multifamily, and mixed use development, business or commercial districts, and towns or cities.
(f) A Legal Affairs Office to do all of the following:
(1) Provide oversight and monitoring of state agencies that provide legal services to descendants, including in criminal cases, and oversight and monitoring of state entities that receive, document, and investigate civil rights violations and hate crimes, and ensure that such entities provide a hotline and database for the descendant community.
(2) Advocate for civil and criminal justice reforms, including, but not limited to, youth and adult decarceration programs, abolition, and housing and houselessness legal services.
(3) Monitor the provision of civil legal services, including free arbitration and mediation services and other forms of conciliation courts, to the extent needed to close the justice gap.
(g) A Strategic Partnerships Office to oversee and
monitor the state’s collaboration with community-based organizations and other relevant organizations, and to oversee and audit state funds disbursed to identified community-based organizations and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that funding is directed toward eligible individuals or entities.
This chapter shall remain in effect until July 1, 2024, and as of that date is repealed.
This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to ensure that the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States (Task Force) is able to provide continuity and technical assistance on the Task Force’s report, findings, and recommendations after their publication, it is necessary for this act to take effect
immediately.
