California’s proposal to pay Black residents potentially more than a million dollars each as a reparations payment faces a make-or-break moment over the weekend of May 6. The task force in charge of the state’s reparations research will vote on its final report that will then go to state lawmakers.
As the report currently stands, the task force, with the help of economists, has said the total cost could exceed $800 billion. For perspective, California’s annual budget is $297 billion.
The payments will be for Black residents who can trace their lineage back to family members who were bought, sold and owned as slaves.
As of the latest analysis, payments could be as high as $1.2 million per person. But that’s an early assessment and not a final proposal.
The task force has until July 1 to hand over the full report. On May 6, it will vote how much restitution it believes is due, then lawmakers will decide the fate from there.
