(The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will consider establishing an office to oversee the city’s reparations rollout.
The ordinance, proposed to the board’s Budget and Finance Committee earlier this year, would appropriate $50 million from the city’s general fund to the Human Rights Commission for establishing the Office of Reparations to implement approved recommendations from the San Francisco African American Reparations Advisory Committee.
The measure was referred to the San Francisco Youth Commission earlier this year with no action conducted on the measure to date, according to the commission’s website. The issue is on the June 9 agenda of the city’s Budget and Appropriations Committee.
Brent Jalipa, spokesperson for the Budget and Appropriations Committee, did not respond to the Center Square in time for publication.
According to a draft reparations plan released in December, approved recommendations include, but are not limited to, the following:
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Create and fund a Reparations Stakeholder Authority, or a committee of stakeholders independent of the City and County of San Francisco, to ensure policy initiatives meet the guidelines established by the city in support of racial equity
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Provide a lump sum payment of $5 million to eligible Californians
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Ensure that black Californians have a minimum income of $97,000 per year
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Finance a comprehensive debt forgiveness program that clears all educational, personal, credit card and payday loans
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Convert public housing units to condominiums to be sold for $1 to qualifying residents to boost homeownership
California became the first state in the nation to establish a reparations task force in 2020 under a law signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat.
The task force, last year, voted to limit reparations to those who are descendants of slaves, as opposed to all black Californians.
