Two racism reparations bills fail in California despite protests

Two bills related to reparations for descendants of enslaved African Americans were shelved in the California legislature. The bills failed to advance despite protests to put pressure on lawmakers.

House Bill 1331, as Fox News reviewed, aimed to create a new fund for reparations, while 1403 sought to establish an agency to oversee the efforts and determine who was eligible for reparations.

California lawmakers did, however, pass other bills aimed at remedying past racial injustices, but none of them would provide direct payments to African Americans.

Steven Bradford, one of the bill's movers, argued that the refusal by lawmakers to debate the proposals came out of fear that Governor Gavin Newsom would be forced to veto the entire package of rules if he decided to act against the two controversial rules. However, the California Black Caucus indicated that it is evaluating bringing the bills forward again.

Republicans such as Bill Essayli criticized Democrats, whom he accused of hiding at the time of the vote even though they promised their constituents to move the bill forward. Essayli maintained that he does not support the initiative, but insisted that there should have been a debate and a vote.

"Politicians cannot be allowed to make promises to the people who elect them, and then hide like cowards when it’s time to go on record.  At minimum, the people were owed a hearing and opportunity to know where their elected representative stands on the issue," Essayli said.