California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have allowed preferential college admissions to descendants of enslaved persons. The proposal arose as California continues its process of exploring reparations for slavery and racism, while the Trump administration pushes back against diversity efforts and policies that acknowledge race.
Newsom vetoes bill but urges colleges to consider preferences for descendants of slavery
Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill 7 after the California Assembly approved it on a 55-18 vote and the California Senate on a 30-10 vote in September. The bill would have allowed, but not required, public and private colleges and universities in California to “consider providing a preference in admissions to an applicant who is a descendant of slavery.”
In a statement explaining his veto, Newsom argued that the state’s universities “already have the authority to determine whether to provide admissions preference like this one, and accordingly, this bill is unnecessary,” adding, “I encourage the institutions referenced in this bill to review and determine how, when, and if this type of preference can be adopted.”
Assembly Bill 7 was proposed as part of a larger initiative in California surrounding reparations for slavery and other forms of racism, the most significant such effort in the United States. Since authorizing California’s reparations task force in 2020, Newsom has established a mixed record concerning reparations bills. In addition to striking down the college admissions bill, he recently vetoed bills that would have helped descendants of slavery purchase homes and provided compensation for Californians who lost property due to racist eminent domain enforcement. Still, Newsom has pushed forward other reparations policies, tasking the California State University to help develop procedures for determining who is considered a descendant of slavery. Newsom also signed into law the creation of California’s Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery, which would assist qualified individuals in accessing benefits.
Navigating a complicated legal and political environment
As The Los Angeles Times reports, experts have been divided on whether the vetoed legislation would have endured legal challenges. The bill attempted to provide benefits to descendants of slavery without violating California Proposition 209, which has banned affirmative action in college admissions in the state for nearly thirty years, or the 2023 U.S. Supreme Court decision that banned race-conscious college admissions policies nationwide. Some experts hold that, even though the bill didn’t directly consider the race of the applicant, it could be held that it’s using descent from enslaved persons as a proxy for race in a way that is prohibited by law.
Other experts, however, note that by focusing on direct descent from slavery, the bill was narrowly tailored to demonstrate a “compelling interest” — the standard by which courts judge race-based legislation. Experts also point toward a California policy allowing benefits for Native American students based on tribal affiliation, rather than race, as a parallel to the proposed bill’s focus on descent from slavery instead of race. The Trump administration has aggressively targeted diversity programs and broadly interpreted the 2023 Supreme Court ruling, suggesting that it might have opposed the California bill. However, the Trump White House has continued to support HBCU funding, partially based on the fact that these schools do not admit students based on race, establishing a principle that could have been applied to the California bill.
For now, these questions have been rendered moot by Newsom’s veto; if, however, California schools take his suggestion to consider implementing preferential admissions for descendants of slavery, the legal issues raised in this debate may come up again. As California continues to push forward with other aspects of its reparations agenda, legal and political challenges will likely continue to arise against its programs even as policymakers seek to achieve unprecedented progress in redressing the legacies of slavery and racism.