Assemblymember Issac Bryan (D-Ladera Heights), joined California racial justice, faith and advocacy leaders at the State Capitol for a Day of Action urging lawmakers to advance the Truth and Disclosure Act (AB 2599), as the legislation moves through its final stage before potentially reaching Governor Gavin Newsom’s desk.
Convened by the Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation and Truth (ARRT), the press conference brought together leaders from the California Black Power Network, Catalyst California, PICO California and other coalition partners around a shared message: Truth and disclosure are the minimum.
“AB 2599 is the first bill in the nation that would require large corporations to publicly disclose their historic ties to slavery and the wealth that has been compounding for generations,” said Bryan. “Californians are demanding and deserve this kind of truth and disclosure.”
Speakers called on California to confront the lasting impact of slavery and systemic discrimination, increase transparency around corporate ties to slavery, and continue the work of implementing the recommendations of the California Reparations Task Force.
“AB 2599 is about telling the truth,” said Kevin Cosney, Co-founder and Chief Program Officer of the California Black Power Network. “But truth is not the end of this work. It is a necessary step toward repair and toward building a California where Black communities have the opportunity to thrive.”
The legislation builds on findings documented by California’s first-in-the-nation Reparations Task Force, which produced a comprehensive report detailing generations of state-sanctioned discrimination against Black Californians and recommendations for repair.
Don Tamaki, a former member of the California Reparations Task Force and convenor of ARRT, emphasized that the Task Force report was intended to serve as a roadmap for action—not simply a historical record.
“Since the report’s release, ARRT has helped carry a handful of those 115 recommendations into law: the establishment of the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery–a permanent state agency dedicated to advancing long overdue reparative initiatives, apology resolutions, expanded protections against hair discrimination, and a $6M public education fund to shine a light on centuries of buried racial harm,” said Tamaki.
But speakers stressed that those victories represent only part of the work ahead.
“The Task Force provided the documentation. Now we have to implement it,” Tamaki said. “We are called upon to do the work of repairing that harm, recommendation by recommendation.”
That call for repair extended beyond Black Californians.
John Kim, President and CEO of Catalyst California, emphasized racial healing, corporate accountability and multiracial solidarity, arguing that Californians have a right to understand how institutions accumulated wealth and benefited from historic systems of exploitation.
Joseph Tomás McKellar, Executive Director of PICO California, framed the issue as both a policy imperative and a moral responsibility.
“Repair is a moral obligation, and telling the truth about the harm is the first step,” McKellar said, emphasizing that AB 2599 should be understood not as punishment, but as part of California fulfilling its responsibility to acknowledge harm and build a state that works for everyone.
The Day of Action also brought a national perspective to Sacramento.
W. Kamau Bell, the Emmy Award-winning comedian, director, producer and Bay Area resident, joined the coalition to underscore California’s role in the broader movement for reparations.
Bell’s message was clear: The nation is watching.
His remarks connected California’s efforts to the growing national conversation around reparations and challenged elected leaders to recognize that Black communities are paying close attention to whether policymakers follow through on commitments to racial justice and repair.
For coalition leaders, AB 2599 represents one piece of that much larger commitment.
As the press conference concluded, ARRT leaders reiterated the day’s central message: California cannot repair what it refuses to fully confront.
The public has a right to know. Repair is a moral obligation. And truth and disclosure are the bare minimum.
The Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation and Truth (ARRT) is a multisector, multiracial coalition working to advance the recommendations of the California Reparations Task Force and build the public and political will necessary to achieve meaningful repair for Black Californians. Through advocacy, narrative change, public education and coalition building, ARRT is committed to moving California from acknowledgment to action.
