Newsom signs California law requiring companies to disclose ties to slavery

Companies with more than $100 million in annual worldwide gross receipts could be required to submit sworn disclosures about slavery-related transactions.

California has enacted a new corporate disclosure requirement focused on the financial legacy of slavery. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 2599, the Truth in Disclosure Act, requiring qualifying corporations doing business in the state to disclose whether they or predecessor entities engaged in or profited from slavery-era transactions.

The law was authored by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan and was identified as a priority of the California Legislative Black Caucus, according to Precinct Reporter News. Under AB 2599, corporations doing business in California with at least $100 million in annual gross receipts will be required to submit sworn disclosures. The disclosures concerning whether the company or a predecessor entity participated in or profited from slavery-era transactions.

The filings will be subject to penalties for perjury and made available through a publicly searchable state database. Supporters say the database could provide journalists, researchers and reparations advocates with a way to examine connections between historical participation in the slave economy and present-day corporate wealth. The Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation, and Truth (ARRT) praised Newsom for signing the legislation.

AB 2599 follows several reparations-related measures adopted in California since the state’s Reparations Task Force issued its recommendations in 2023. The state established the task force in 2020 after Newsom signed AB 3121, creating what California described as the nation’s first statewide reparations task force. After two years of research and dozens of public hearings, the task force released a comprehensive report. It examined the historical and continuing effects of anti-Black discrimination and proposed policies to address those harms.

California subsequently enacted measures addressing issues including descendant identification. It also mandates state institutional structures for descendants of enslaved people and a formal state apology for California’s role in slavery and its continuing effects.