Report: Cost of California Reparations Rises to $800 Billion, 2.5 X State Budget

The estimated cost of reparations for slavery in California — which entered the Union as a free state in 1850 — has risen to $800 billion, 2.5 times the annual state budget, say economists advising a state committee.

The UK Daily Mail reported Wednesday:

Black Californians are owed $800 billion for reparations due to generations of over-policing, disproportionate incarceration and housing discrimination, according to economists who are working with the state panel considering the payments.

A previous model, announced earlier this month, estimated that $640 billion would be due in payments to black residents in the Golden State.

…

The new estimate is more than 2.5 times California’s $300 billion annual budget, and does not include a recommended $1 million per older Black resident for health disparities that have shortened their average life span.

As Breitbart News has noted, the state reparations committee was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) during the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. It is due to report its recommendations to the legislature this year for possible action. It exists alongside similar efforts in cities such as San Francisco, which is considering paying $5 million to each long-term black resident, though there is no rationale to the figure.

Morris Griffin, of Los Angeles, speaks during the public comment portion of the Reparations Task Force meeting in Sacramento, Calif., on Friday, March 3, 2023. California’s statewide task force on Black American reparations continues to delve into key questions on eligibility and what form reparations may take.(Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee via AP)

A preliminary report by the committee suggested separate schools for black children, among other ideas.

Already, one city supervisor is urging San Francisco to allocate $50 million for an office of reparations.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the new biography, Rhoda: ‘Comrade Kadalie, You Are Out of Order’. He is also the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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