California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 2599, the Truth in Disclosure Act, on Sept. 30, requiring certain large companies operating in the state to research and disclose specified historical ties to slavery.
The law applies to businesses with more than $100 million in annual worldwide gross receipts that were operating, or had a predecessor, on or before Dec. 31, 1964. According to the source report, companies will submit sworn disclosures to the California Civil Rights Department once the Legislature provides funding. The filings are to address transactions such as buying or selling enslaved people, using enslaved people as loan collateral, and slavery-related insurance policies. Initial filings are due Jan. 15, 2029.
Kristin Nimmers, a policy and campaign manager for the California Black Power Network and the Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation, and Truth, described the signing as an important victory for corporate accountability. She said the law could help move the state reparations task force’s recommendations toward implementation.
AB 2599 requires disclosure; it does not authorize direct reparations payments. Newsom has taken a cautious approach to broader compensation proposals, according to the report. He recently vetoed a bill that would have exempted future state reparations payments from California income tax and has opposed direct cash payments. He has approved state funding for universities to research methods for verifying descendants of enslaved Americans for possible future noncash benefits.
The law follows California’s establishment of a task force to study slavery’s legacy and recommend possible remedies. The task force issued a report in 2023. The source report also notes that local reparations initiatives elsewhere have had differing outcomes, including a housing-grant program in Evanston, Illinois.
The account is based in part on comments from a reparations advocacy representative; it does not provide independent assessments of the law’s expected effects or implementation.
