ACA-7 passed the state Assembly in September and sits before the Democrat-controlled Senate. If approved there, it would be put before voters this November.
The bill would effectively allow the governor to circumvent the state’s longstanding ban on racial preferences first passed by a majority of voters in 1996 with Proposition 209 and reaffirmed in a 2020 referendum.
The measure would allow the governor to use the state’s coffers to fund research-based or culturally specific programs if they increase the “life expectancy of, improving educational outcomes for, or lifting out of poverty specific groups based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, or marginalized genders, sexes, or sexual orientations.”
Calif. Assemblymember Corey Jackson, who sponsored the bill, stated in a news release his proposal would address “systemic disparities” and “create positive change and improve outcomes for those disproportionately affected by systemic racism and discrimination.”