Despite national mood, Maryland lawmakers hopeful for reparations committee bill this year

Yahoo

28-02-2025

Sen. C. Anthony Muse (D-Prince George's) testifies Thursday on a bill he's sponsoring to create a Maryland Reparations Commission. Muse spoke before the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee. (Photo by William J. Ford/Maryland Matters)
Despite the mood in Washington, supporters think this may finally be the year for passage of a bill to create a Maryland Reparations Commission to study the inequality African descendants faced in the state.
Optimism over the bill, which has failed for several years running, comes as President Donald Trump's administration has mounted a full-scale assault on race-based programming and diversity, equity and inclusion, or DEI, initiatives.
But advocates said their hope is not based so much on Trump's antagonism as it is on the fact that the measure's time has just come.
'We do events all across the state, and one of the themes has always come back from Black Marylanders that it's past time for Maryland to address the issue of reparations,' said Del. Jheanelle Wilkins (D-Montgomery) during a Thursday briefing on the bill. 'The bill creates a commission to study various proposals on how we address the harms of enslavement.'
Wilkins is chair of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland, which she said is endorsing the bill for the first time this year. Along with that newfound support, the bill has been scaled back from previous versions, and subsequently comes with a much smaller price tag.
Sen. C. Anthony Muse (D-Prince George's) and Del. Aletheia McCaskill (D-Baltimore County) are lead sponsors of Senate Bill 587 and House Bill 1422, respectively.
McCaskill said when a statewide reparations commission proposal came up several years ago, a fiscal note estimated the cost to create one at more than $1 million. The fiscal note for her bill and Muse's, however, estimates that the only new expenditures for fiscal 2026 would be $54,500 to hire one contractual archivist to help produce reports and conduct research. In addition, Morgan State University in Baltimore will be used as a resource to assist with additional research.
A key phrase in the fiscal note: 'Expense reimbursements for commission members are assumed to be minimal and absorbable within existing budgeted resources.'
McCaskill and others stressed that the bill will not focus strictly on financial payments to individuals. Recommendations from the commission could include help for underserved communities with affordable housing, access to public transportation and jobs.
'Some folks say, why now? Well, really, it should have been yesterday,' said McCaskill, who testified on her bill to the House Health and Government Operations Committee on Tuesday. 'The movement has to be now because it's long overdue.'
Three states have passed legislation to create a commission to study reparations: California in 2020, Illinois in 2021 and New York in 2023.
Several cities nationwide have also established reparations commissions, including Greenbelt in Prince George's County, among others. Voters there approved a referendum in November 2021 that called for the City Council to establish a 21-member commission to review and make recommendations for local reparations for African Americans and Native Americans in the city.
'These initiatives demonstrate a growing recognition of the need to address historical injustices through structured, research-driven approaches,' Muse said Thursday, as he testified on his bill before the Senate Education, Energy, and Environment Committee. 'By investing in justice, this will foster economic growth, stronger communities and a more inclusive Maryland.'
Both measures would focus on 'individuals impacted by historical inequality,' which means those whose ancestors were enslaved in the state or 'impacted by inequitable government policies.'
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The specific policies would be from the federal, state or local between 1877 to 1965, informally known as the post-Reconstruction and Jim Crow eras. The bills say those years 'have led to economic disparities based on race, including housing segregation and discrimination, redlining, restrictive covenants, and tax policies.'
The commission would also examine how public and private institutions may have benefited from those policies.
Reparations could include statements of apology, monetary compensation, social service assistance, business incentives and child care costs, the bills said.
The all-volunteer commission would consist of nearly two dozen people to include two members each from the Senate and House (with one Black caucus member from each chambe); two employees from one of the state's four historically Black colleges and universities with expertise in the history of slavery; the state comptroller or a designee; a Maryland Black Chamber of Commerce representative; and a representative from the Maryland Lynching Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Eight members of the reparations commission would be appointed by the governor, including two people from the general public, a mental health expert and a representative of an African American financial institution.
The commission would be tasked with submitting a preliminary report by Jan. 1, 2027, and a final report by Nov. 1 of that year.
Nicole Bruno of Prince George's County said 'white allies' such as herself might not benefit directly from any form or reparations, but she still supports the measures.
'Acknowledging and repairing historical injustice is not the responsibility of Black communities,' she said Thursday in testimony before the Senate committee. 'It requires collective action and support from those in positions of power. Diversity, equity and inclusion are the strengths of our country's legacy, not its burden, and we have our responsibility towards that legacy.'
No one spoke in opposition to the reparations measure Thursday, but a Maryland resident did submit written testimony against it.
'So now we are going to discriminate against all non-Black people and their businesses, because of an ugly time in our country's history that happened generations ago and that has nothing to do with current reality,' wrote Trudy Tibbals. 'No one can go back and change what happened, no matter how badly one wants to.'
But the Rev. Robert Turner, pastor of Empowerment Temple A.M.E. Church in Baltimore, said that 'because Trump is in office, we need to make sure Maryland does right by citizens, because we can't depend on the White House to do anything for Maryland, especially black Marylanders.'
'Our issues don't give us the luxury of waiting 'til we have somebody sympathetic to our issues. We have to fight while we fight and pray that we win while we fight,' he said.
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