Honestly, California has become the new socialist elite. Despite a huge deficit, the state is giving free tiny homes and tax credits for movie and production companies. On top of that, the state is considering reparations to the tune of over sixty billion dollars. A move that will harm other minorities that live in the state, slash budgets for other incentives and harm taxpayers for years to come, all the while putting thousands of dollars into the hands of people who are decades removed from their ancestors.
Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has kept mainly silent on whether he would back ideas for reparations for enslaved black California residents.
After almost three years of investigation and discussion, the task committee, established by a measure signed into law by Newsom in 2020, is slated to present its final report on July 1.
The present state task group plan calls for $360,000 for California’s nearly 1.8 million black inhabitants who had at least one slave ancestor. California was accepted as a “free state” in 1850, prohibiting slavery. Slavery was abolished statewide in 1865 with the approval of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.
The state legislature will vote on the task force’s recommendations in the following months, but Newsom may feel pressure from activists to adopt the idea by executive action. Organizers said he has the authority to make good on the reparations, but this comes as the state faces a nearly $22.5 billion budget shortfall in the coming fiscal year.
The idea is anticipated to cost the state $640 billion, necessitating cuts to other programs to meet the shortfall. A $330 million extension of the state’s tax credits for television and film productions from 2025 to 2030 is already included in Newsom’s budget for 2023-2024. The proposed tax credit extension would help to make California a more appealing jurisdiction for film production, but it would certainly come at the expense of other initiatives.
The legislature is reviewing the movie credit extension because of the shortage in the budget, with some stating that it is difficult to justify the extension above other state initiatives.
Assemblyman Phil Ting told the Los Angeles Times during a meeting this week that they can’t go back to the people of California and tell them to tell the child-care workers, “hey, sorry, we couldn’t give you money for child care ” because they gave the money to movie companies.
On the other hand, Newsom demonstrated his determination to see the reparations scheme through by vetoing a measure last year that would have delayed the deadline for the task panel to deliver its recommendations. He justified his veto by claiming that it was at the request of now-state Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who filed the measure in the state legislature in 2020, offering a vote of confidence to the original proposal’s sponsor.
San Francisco is considering reparations for black residents separately, with current proposals calling for $5 million in payments along with other benefits such as removing personal debt and tax burdens, guaranteeing incomes of at least $97,000 for the next 250 years, and providing city homes for $1 per family.
City lawmakers have suggested allocating $50 million to establish an agency to handle San Francisco reparations, which appears likely to pass. Several organizations and individuals have criticized the planned scheme, including the San Francisco chapter of the NAACP, which stated that investment in the black community would be more beneficial than direct payments.