A majority of California voters oppose cash reparations for slavery, according to a poll released Sunday.
Fifty-nine percent of voters in the Golden State either oppose somewhat or oppose strongly giving cash reparations to descendants of slaves, a poll from the University of California-Berkeley found. Across racial lines, majorities of white, Latino, and Asian voters were against the policy. Seventy-six percent of the state's black voters strongly or somewhat favored the idea.
California passed a law in 2020 establishing a reparations task force to study the matter. The panel, made up of several left-wing academics and policymakers, has since made a number of radical recommendations to the legislature.
In June 2022, it recommended that California institute cash reparations payments, forgive overdue child support that black residents owe to the government, and put more trees in black neighborhoods for "shade equity."
In May, the task force approved recommendations on reparations that would cost a total of $800 million, 2.5 times more than the state's annual budget. Only after Governor Gavin Newsom (D.) saw the cost of the plan—and after the state spent $2.5 million researching it—did he decline to endorse cash payments.
The task force in June presented the legislature with its final, 1,100-page report, recommending that the state decriminalize public urination and let urinators sue if police attempt to stop them, prohibit police from pulling over drivers for traffic violations, and defund school police.