California’s Democratic governor is apparently setting realistic expectations about possible cash payments to Black residents in a reparations drama that has national attention.

On May 6, a nine-member state reparations task force, meeting in Oakland, voted to recommend that Gov. Gavin Newsom and state legislators pay billions of dollars to qualified Black Californians. The payments represent compensation for generations of government sanctioned racial discrimination in housing, policing and incarceration, education and other areas.

If approved, California would have created a roadmap for other states and the federal government to follow in a highly divisive issue.

After setting aside racial politics, there’s still another big hurdle to clear: the cost of cash payments. Economists pegged the price tag at upwards of $800 billion – which amounts to more than 2.5 times the state’s $300 billion annual budget.

"Dealing with that legacy [of slavery] is about much more than cash payments,” Newsom said in a statement to station KCRA.

Newsom continued: “Many of the recommendations put forward by the Task Force are critical action items we’ve already been hard at work addressing: breaking down barriers to vote, bolstering resources to address hate, enacting sweeping law enforcement and justice reforms to build trust and safety, strengthening economic mobility — all while investing billions to root out disparities and improve equity in housing, education, healthcare, and well beyond.”

While the recommendation of reparation payments received the headlines, the task force offered a number of other recommendations aimed at ending disparities in several areas, including health, criminal justice, housing and education.

Attempts to pass similar reparations legislation have failed so far at the federal level, and efforts are underway in other states, including New York.

At the city level, Evanston, Ill., a Chicago suburb, in 2021 became the first city to make reparations available to Black residents. But there are no direct cash payments involved. Compensation for slavery includes funding housing programs.

"I think he’s (Newsom) setting a realistic expectation that there probably won’t be check payments in the amount we’ve bannered around. I’ve tried to temper people’s expectations that it might not be a check," state Sen. Steven Bradford, a member of the task force, told KCRA.