The California American Freedmen Affairs Division: resident registry.

Former law, until July 1, 2023, established the Task Force to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans, with a Special Consideration for African Americans Who are Descendants of Persons Enslaved in the United States. Former law required the task force to, among other things, identify, compile, and synthesize the relevant corpus of evidentiary documentation of the institution of slavery that existed within the United States and the colonies, as specified, and to recommend the form of compensation that should be awarded, the instrumentalities through which it should be awarded, and who should be eligible for this compensation. This bill would establish the California American Freedmen Affairs Division as a division within the Secretary of State's office. The bill would specify that the purpose of the division is to verify a resident's status as an American Freedman, as defined, and create and maintain an accurate database registry of American Freedmen residents. This bill would require the division to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, implement the provisions of this bill, including establishing, by July 1, 2028, the American Freedmen Genealogy Office within the division to verify a resident's status as an American Freedman and establishing the Office of Freedmen Legal Affairs to conduct and manage its legal affairs. The bill would require the division to, among other things, develop a mission statement and strategic plan for the division, and a matrix and metrics of success for the offices of the division. This bill would require, commencing January 1, 2029, and every 3 years thereafter, the division to submit a report to the Legislature on its activities and performance. The bill would also require, commencing January 1, 2030, and every 5 years thereafter, through the California State Auditor, the Legislature to request performance and financial audits of the division and make recommendations for improvement or corrective legislation. This bill would prohibit personal information of American Freedmen residents obtained under these provisions from being shared outside the division, except as necessary to fulfill the division's purposes. The bill would also require interagency sharing of personal information about American Freedmen residents to be limited to demographics only, except as necessary to fulfill the division's purposes. The bill would prohibit the division from using any division resources, including, but not limited to, division funds, personnel, and infrastructure, to directly or indirectly participate or assist in law enforcement activity. Existing law prohibits a state agency, with certain exceptions, from employing any in-house counsel to act on behalf of the state agency or its employees in any judicial or administrative adjudicative proceeding in which the agency is interested, or is a party as a result of office or official duties, or contracting with outside counsel for any purpose, without the consent of the Attorney General. This bill would exempt the division from those prohibitions. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.