ELI STEELE: California forces companies to mine the past for slavery's sins

California has enacted a first-in-the-nation law requiring large corporations to publicly disclose any historical ties to slavery. Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 2599, also known as the Truth in Disclosure Act, on September 30. The law mandates that companies with annual worldwide revenues exceeding $100 million, and that existed in some form by the end of 1964, must search their records—and those of their predecessors, subsidiaries, and parent companies—back to 1849.

Companies must report if they or their predecessors sold or leased enslaved people, used them as collateral for loans, or provided insurance policies on them. These findings must be made public, and the filings, due as early as January 15, 2029, will be maintained in an online database indefinitely. Newsom described the required disclosures as revealing "insurance policies on enslaved people" and "human beings used as collateral, quite literally as collateral for loans."

The legislation was championed by the California Reparations Task Force and authored by Democratic Assemblymember Isaac Bryan. Bryan stated he expects disclosures from sectors including agriculture, banking, and insurance. He envisioned the public accounting as a precursor to further legislative action, saying, "Once the public has this disclosure and we have a full accounting of the impact, then it's up to us to decide what that means and what we're going to do about it."

Supporters of the bill, including activists from the California Black Power Network, view it as a crucial step toward addressing historical harms. Kristin Nimmers, a policy and campaign manager for the network, emphasized that reparations should be a "harm-based approach" rather than a single check, arguing it is necessary to "holistically repair our communities."

The law has drawn criticism from commentators who argue it prioritizes historical inquiry over contemporary issues. They point to recently released state test scores showing that only 33.7% of Black students met the standard in English and 21.5% in mathematics. Critics question the state's focus on excavating corporate records from the 19th century while a significant portion of students struggle with current educational benchmarks.

On the same day he signed the slavery disclosure bill, Governor Newsom vetoed a separate measure that would have exempted reparations payments from state income tax. This action was noted by observers as a decision that avoided a direct cost to state revenue.