Members of the California Association of Black Lawyers (CABL) sat in the front row at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on July 15 to show their support for Assembly Bill (AB) 7. The bill would give public and private colleges and universities the option to offer admissions preferences to applicants who are descendants of enslaved people. The move is part of ongoing efforts to address the lasting impacts of slavery and systemic racism through higher education access.
Authored by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan (D-Ladera Heights), a member and vice chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC), the measure passed out of committee with an 11-2 vote. Many attorneys, law students, and diverse supporters of AB 7 from across the state attended the hearing, which was held at the state Capitol, including CABL. Tiega Varlack, secretary for CABL and former president of the Black Women Lawyers Association of Northern California (BWLA of NorCal), said the bill is essential to the organization’s work.
“We support this legislation because education is extremely important to our pipeline, which is one of the things that both organizations (CABL and BWLA of NorCal) focus on,” Varlack told California Black Media (CBM). “We feel that, as attorneys, AB 7 doesn’t focus on race but focuses on descendants of enslaved people, a legal term of ours that gives us a better chance of surviving legal scrutiny.”
Bryan first introduced AB 7 in December 2024. The legislation would apply to the California State University (CSU), the University of California (UC), and independent and private postsecondary educational institutions.The bill defines “descendant of slavery” with specific criteria related to individuals subjected to American chattel slavery before 1900.
AB 7 is part of the California Legislative Black Caucus’s “Road to Repair 2025” package — a 16-bill legislative effort aimed at addressing the lasting impacts of slavery and systemic racism. The package focuses on advancing reparations and tackling ongoing racial disparities across the state.
“We have rewarded legacies of privilege, affluence, and high social status with priority admission all across the country and that is still the case with many private institutions,” Bryan said. “In fact, in California, we didn’t end legacy admission until last year. For those that were once chattel property in this country…that is what (AB 7) is seeking to rectify and clarify in our road to repair.”
Senators Roger Niello (R-Roseville) and Suzette Martinez-Valladares (R-Acton), members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, voted against AB 7.
According to Californians for Equal Rights Foundation (CFER), AB 7 violates Proposition (Prop) 209, the California Civil Rights Initiative of 1996. CFER is a non-partisan, non-profit organization established in 2020 following the defeat of Prop 16 – the measure aimed at repealing Prop 209.