By Antonio Ray Harvey, California Black Media
In August 2000, the California Legislature confronted a little-known chapter of American history after records uncovered in the state archives revealed that, before the Civil War, some insurance companies issued policies to slaveholders that insured enslaved people against injury, death or escape, treating human beings as property.
That same year, former state Sen. Tom Hayden (D-Los Angeles) authored Senate Bill 2199, landmark legislation requiring insurance companies doing business in California to disclose records of slaveholder insurance policies issued by them or their corporate predecessors.
More than two decades later, California lawmakers are seeking to expand that transparency.
Assembly Bill (AB) 2599, the Truth in Disclosure Act, authored by Asm. Isaac Bryan (D-Ladera Heights), builds on the disclosure framework established by SB 2199. The measure would require certain large corporations to search their historical records and submit sworn affidavits, under penalty of perjury, disclosing documented ties to chattel slavery or profits derived from slavery.
On June 23, AB 2599 passed the Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by Sen. Tom Umberg (D-Santa Ana), on an 11-1 vote. The measure now heads to the Senate Public Safety Committee.
“We have a public accounting of the ways that our civic institutions have benefited from chattel slavery and built wealth in the process,” said Bryan, vice chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC). “We even had cost estimates of what is true accounting for what that (wealth) would be.”
Bryan continued, “This bill is simply about disclosure. We’ve had a conversation about the private sector’s role in extracting that wealth, but this bill starts with that conversation around disclosure.”
Known as the Slavery Era Insurance Policies Act, Hayden’s SB 2199 required insurers licensed in California to examine their archives for antebellum policies covering slaveholders against the loss or death of enslaved people. The results were compiled by the California Department of Insurance.
AB 2599 would extend that transparency requirement beyond the insurance industry. It requires entities doing business in California with more than $100 million in annual worldwide gross receipts to review their records for historical involvement in slavery-related transactions.
The bill specifically identifies industries historically tied to the slave economy, including textile, tobacco, railroad, shipping, rice, sugar, financial and insurance companies.
AB 2599 is the CLBC’s sole priority bill this legislative session, according to Sen. Akilah Weber Pierson (D-San Diego), chair of the caucus and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Weber Pierson cited several financial institutions and insurance companies that have acknowledged or documented historical ties to slavery, including JPMorgan Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, New York Life, AIG and Aetna.
During the 2010s, Illinois, Iowa and Maryland enacted similar laws requiring insurance companies operating in those states to search their archives for slavery-era insurance policies issued to slaveholders.
“This bill (AB 2599) is extremely important because it acknowledges that many disparities facing Black Americans did not happen by accident. It also talks about the fact that many of the economic opportunities that benefited major institutions did not also happen by accident – but by their participation in chattel slavery,” Weber Pierson said.
The bill’s primary co-sponsor is the Alliance for Reparations, Reconciliation and Truth. Other supporters include Black Women Organized for Political Action (BWOPA), Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement, the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Healing Justice Santa Barbara, the Black Power Network, the Inland Empire Black Worker Center, LA Voice, the League of Women Voters of California and Starting Over Inc.
Mike McBride, lead pastor of The Way Christian Center in West Berkeley, and civil rights attorney Don Tamaki, a former member of the California Reparations Task Force, testified in support of the measure during the committee hearing at the Capitol Annex Swing Space.
Sen. María Elena Durazo (D-Los Angeles) praised Bryan for bringing the legislation forward, emphasizing its historical and educational value.
“I think it’s important for all of us to continue to understand the history and the depth that slavery caused, not only to Black Americans, but all Americans,” Durazo said.
Michelle Connor, past president of the Frederick Douglass Foundation of California, spoke in opposition to the bill. During Bryan’s presentation, she asked whether the measure’s disclosure requirements would also apply to corporations owned by Black people “who were enslaved by Black people” dating back to the 1860s.
The Frederick Douglass Foundation of California is the state chapter of the national Frederick Douglass Freedom Alliance, a conservative, faith-based public policy and educational organization aligned with Republican principles.
Bryan responded that he was unaware of any Black-owned corporations with more than $100 million in annual gross receipts during that period. However, he said the bill would apply equally to any qualifying company, regardless of ownership.
“I think the question that was asked is largely ridiculous,” Bryan responded. “But any corporation with over $100 million in gross receipts, which would include Black corporations, which I hope there are many or someday will be many, with over $100 million in gross receipts, has to disclose their historic ties to chattel slavery.”
