SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — California Governor Gavin Newsom on Wednesday vetoed a bill that would have enabled people to apply for the return of property taken through eminent domain that was racially motivated.
Senate Bill 1050 — written by state Senator Steven Bradford, a Gardena Democrat — would have created a process for a former owner, or their descendants, to regain property improperly taken from them, if it was still in possession of the public entity. The person also could have received other publicly held property that had the same value or monetary compensation.
“I thank the author for his commitment to redressing past racial injustices,” Newsom wrote in a statement. “However, this bill tasks a nonexistent state agency to carry out its various provisions and requirements, making it impossible to implement.”
Bradford’s bill gave the Office of Legal Affairs, within the California American Freedman Affairs Agency, the task of accepting, reviewing and investigating applications for the return of property.
Another bill of Bradford’s — Senate Bill 1403 — would have created the freedman agency. However, that bill was shelved on the final day of the legislative session in a political move that had Bradford scrambling to resuscitate it.
Ultimately, his efforts failed and the freedman agency bill, as well as a bill titled the Fund for Reparations and Reparative Justice, died.
The California Legislative Black Caucus on the session’s final day issued a letter stating that it wasn’t involved in those two bills and that it remained focused on its own legislative reparations package. It added that work would continue on Senate Bill 1043 and it would be reintroduced next year.
The move irked the Coalition for a Just and Equitable California, which had members protest on the second floor of the Capitol on the Legislature’s final day.
Bradford couldn’t immediately be reached Wednesday afternoon for comment.
Newsom on Wednesday also vetoed Senate Bill 954 — written by state Senator Caroline Menjivar, a San Fernando Valley Democrat. Her bill would have required public high schools to make condoms freely available. The condoms would have been in a minimum of two spots in each school, along with sexual health notices.
Newsom vetoed a similar bill last year, citing cost concerns.
“While the author successfully championed $5 million for a similarly aligned purpose in this year’s budget, one-time funding does not adequately address the fiscal concerns associated with this bill,” Newsom said in his veto message.
“It is important to remain disciplined when considering bills with significant fiscal implications that are not included in the budget, such as this measure,” he added.
Newsom also signed several bills on Wednesday.
One of those was Assembly Bill 2552, written by Glendale Democratic Assemblymember Laura Friedman.
Friedman’s bill creates more stringent restrictions on rat poison. It expands an existing moratorium and will include all blood-thinning rat poisons, or anticoagulant rodenticides. The Center for Biological Diversity called it the strongest such protection in the nation against toxic rat poisons.
“This important legislation shows why California is an environmental leader,” said J.P. Rose, urban wildlands policy director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “We’re willing to fight for wildlife protections. Birds, foxes and pumas shouldn’t be sacrificed every time there’s a pest problem. It’s a relief to know the deadliest rat poisons will soon be off the market here.”