reparations

What started in March with the stunning collapse of Santa Clara-based Silicon Valley Bank continued Monday, as state regulators announced that they had seized San Francisco-based First Republic Bank, the second biggest bank failure in U.S. history. Quickly, the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation said it appointed as receiver the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., […]

The reparations task force meets Saturday in Oakland. It may vote to recommend a state apology and payments to African Americans based on years living in state.

Now that California has opted to phase out diesel trucking, the state will find out in the years to come which was right: the aspirations of environmentalists or the warnings of the trucking industry.  On Friday the California Air Resources Board unanimously voted to ban the sale of new diesel big rigs, delivery and garbage […]

Few assembly members have pledged their support for monetary reparations for the descendants of formerly enslaved people. Public response is split.

Monday, California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis issued a proclamation honoring labor activist Dolores Huerta on her 93rd birthday.  But it was Gov. Gavin Newsom who announced the state has secured an emergency stockpile of as many as 2 million Misoprostol pills in response to a federal judge suspending FDA approval of another abortion pill on […]

From CalMatters economy reporter Grace Gedye: The California Legislature, with its Democratic supermajority, is known for passing first-in-the-nation laws that ramp up labor and consumer protections — often in the face of intense opposition from business groups. At the same time, the California Chamber of Commerce, a powerful business lobbying group, has honed a specific […]

Patients who were already victimized once by California’s forced sterilization program — and who are running out of time to claim state compensation — were nearly victimized again. This time, it’s because of a data breach that exposed their personal and medical information. Last December, a researcher looking into the sterilization of thousands of female […]

As the California Reparations Task Force finalizes its recommendations for the Legislature, a member lays out the committee's guiding principles and how their work aligns with international protocols and the examples set by other countries that provided reparations.

The task force members are discussing monetary and nonmonetary reparations ideas to compensate for slavery and racism. Some say they want policies to prevent future harms against Black Californians.

I’m back from a lovely vacation! Many thanks to my wonderful colleague Ben Christopher and other CalMatters reporters for guest hosting the newsletter while I was gone. Gov. Gavin Newsom has until midnight Friday to determine the fate of the more than 550 bills on his desk — or risk turning into a pumpkin. That […]