California Should Eliminate Black Child Support Debt Interest, Task Force Says

Assembly Member Reginald Jones-Sawyer, California Indemnification Task Force Member Credit: Bloomberg

California should eliminate interest on black child support debt of residents, recommended by the State Reparations Task Force.

He also called for police to stop arresting people for minor disorderly conduct, including public urination.

Recommendations found in 1,100-page task force report , created by California Governor Gavin Newsom in 2020.

California was the first U.S. state to pass a law requiring a study on how the descendants of slaves should be compensated.

In May, a task force proposed that black Californians receive $1.2 million (£940,000) each in reparations for decades of racial injustice.

This is estimated to cost the state $500 billion, which nearly $200 billion more than its annual budget.

Now, a nine-member task force has released its detailed findings. His recommendations will be passed on to the state legislature, which will decide what action it should take on the report.

Although the task force said that child support should be paid, it called for action to ease the burden of interest, which, according to one study, is 27% of total debt.

California charges 10% interest on unpaid child support. The report says this is having a disproportionate effect on African Americans, making it harder for them to find a home or get a job.

“At a minimum, the proposal recommends that the legislature eliminate the alleged accrual of interest on child support debt for low-income parents,” the report says.

Other recommendations include a ban on arresting and prosecuting people who commit what she called disorderly conduct offenses.

Much of the police-community engagement involves low-level non-violent crime.

“Thus, for example, law enforcement agencies are often tasked with dealing with offenses related to public disorder, such as illegal camping, public intoxication, disorderly conduct, petty trespassing, and public urination.

“Although the subjects of these contacts are often experiencing homelessness, a mental health crisis, or both, responding officers usually have neither training nor experience with these vulnerable populations.»

This can lead to disproportionate and sometimes fatal the use of force.

Those who are arrested for what the report calls «administrative violations» should be able to sue for damages or automatically receive payment.

Approximately 6.5% of the population California — about 2.5 million people. people are black.

However, the compensation scheme should be limited to those who are «an African-American descendant of a movable enslaved person or a descendant of a free black person who lived in the United States before the end of the 19th century.»

This will reduce the number of people eligible for compensation to less than two million people.