Governor Goes Dark After $640 Billion Reparations Proposal

(NewsReady.com) – The topic of reparations for black people in America is hotly debated. That’s money provided by taxpayers to reimburse African-Americans for the wealth they lost due to slavery and racism since the country was founded. California Governor Gavin Newsom (D) created a task force two years ago to study reparations. The group has now made an expensive recommendation, but the Democrat is mum.

Nearly a month ago, on March 3, the California Reparations Task Force proposed giving every black resident in the state who is a descendant of a slave $360,000 each. This is an increase from the $220,000 payments proposed by the group in 2022. The new figure would cost the state an estimated $640 billion — that it does not have. The task force also wants to create a California American Freedmen Affairs Agency that would hand out the massive taxpayer-funded payments to approximately 1.8 million people.

We will have a regulation drafting "Freedmen Agency"to provide direct services where required otherwise oversight of peer Agency implementation of the Freedmen regulations.
Thank you Dr Cheryl Grills for the language of Agency. Your reasonability will not be forgotten. #CRTF pic.twitter.com/7eZrowvMUW

— RaceMan100 (@RaceMan93019145) March 5, 2023

Once the task force formally releases its report, the state legislature will vote on whether to pass the proposal. However, Newsom has not indicated whether or not he would sign reparations legislation. Reports indicate he has not discussed the recommendations from the task force he created at all.

The governor released a budget proposal for the fiscal year 2023-24 that has already stirred up controversy. He wants to extend the state’s tax credit program for Hollywood and allow the industry to convert some of the credits into cash payments. Critics argue he’s trying to give Hollywood a handout at the expense of other programs that would benefit working families.

The Los Angeles Times reported Assemblyman Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) told the film industry he couldn’t go back to California residents and tell them he couldn’t give them money for child care because Hollywood needed rebates.

The debate over reparations and Newsom’s other proposals come at a time when the state is facing a $22.5 billion deficit.