S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7215
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               June 7, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by Sen. BRISPORT -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Rules
 
 AN ACT to acknowledge the fundamental injustice, cruelty, brutality  and
   inhumanity  of  slavery  in  the city of New York and the state of New
   York; to establish the New York state community commission on  repara-
   tions remedies, to examine the institution of slavery, subsequently de
   jure  and de facto racial and economic discrimination against African-
   Americans, and the impact of these forces on living  African-Americans
   and  to  make determinations regarding compensation; and providing for
   the repeal of such provisions upon expiration thereof
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  This act shall be known and may be cited as the "New York
 state community commission on reparations remedies".
   § 2. Legislative intent.  Contrary to what many people believe,  slav-
 ery  was  not  just  a southern institution. Prior to the American Revo-
 lution, there were more enslaved Africans in New York City than  in  any
 other city except Charleston, South Carolina. During this period, slaves
 accounted for 20% of the population of New York and approximately 40% of
 colonial  New York's households owned slaves. These slaves were an inte-
 gral part of the population which settled and developed what we now know
 as the state of New York.
   The first slaves arrived in New Amsterdam, a Dutch  settlement  estab-
 lished  at  the  southern  tip  of  Manhattan Island, around 1627. These
 enslaved Africans did not belong to  individuals,  but  worked  for  the
 Dutch  West  India Company. The Dutch East India Company had established
 Fort Amsterdam, a fortification located  on  the  southern  tip  of  the
 island  of  Manhattan,  for  the  purpose of defending the company's fur
 trade operations in the North River, now known as the Hudson  River.  In
 1624,  New Amsterdam became a provincial extension of the Dutch Republic
 and it was designated the capital of the province in 1625.
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD00314-04-1

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   These first enslaved Africans cleared forests, prepared land for agri-
 culture and built an infrastructure of roads,  buildings  and  walls  of
 timber  and  earthwork,  including  the  wall that gives Wall Street its
 name. During the following years, more and more enslaved  Africans  were
 brought to the New World for the purpose of expanding the settlement.
   New  Amsterdam  came under English control in 1664 and was renamed New
 York in honor of the then Duke of York, in whose name  the  English  had
 captured  it.  Three  years  later, the Dutch gave up their claim to the
 town and the rest of the colony, in  exchange  for  control  of  certain
 trade routes and areas.
   The  change  of  control  of the city did not deter slavery; it was an
 enormously profitable enterprise and it continued under the English. New
 York businesses  engaged  directly  in  slave  trade  and  also  in  the
 production  of  supplies  used  in the slave trade.  They supplied food,
 tools and grain to slave plantations in North America and  in  the  West
 Indies.    Slave labor built and maintained ships used for trade between
 North America, Europe, the Caribbean and Africa. Slaves  produced  goods
 for  sale  and  worked  in private homes. Even newspapers benefited from
 slavery:  advertisements of slaves for purchase were a major  source  of
 revenue for the papers during the eighteenth century.
   Life  was  repressive  for enslaved Africans in New York. The New York
 City Common Council passed a number  of  restrictive  laws  designed  at
 curtailing  the  rights and freedoms of slaves.  Slaves were barred from
 owning significant property and from bequeathing what they  did  own  to
 their children. The number of people of African descent who could gather
 in  one  place  was limited. Restrictions on movement included requiring
 slaves to carry lanterns after dark and to remain in certain  geographic
 areas.
   Penalties  for  breaking  these  and other laws were severe. Beatings,
 mutilations and executions were common.
   Enslaved Africans refused to submit to the slave existence. The condi-
 tions of their lives gave rise to rebellions and the development in  the
 city of a network of the Underground Railroad.
   Not  all  citizens  of New York agreed with slavery. A powerful aboli-
 tionist movement developed, but the end of slavery in New York  did  not
 come easily or quickly. Those who profited from the slave economy fought
 to maintain the system.
   In  1799 the New York state legislature passed "An Act for the Gradual
 Abolition of Slavery". This legislation was a first step in  the  direc-
 tion of emancipation, but did not have an immediate effect or affect all
 slaves.  Rather,  it provided for gradual manumission. All children born
 to slave women after July 4, 1799 would be freed, but only  after  their
 most  productive  years:  age  28  for  men and age 25 for women. Slaves
 already in servitude before July 4, 1799 were  reclassified  as  "inden-
 tured  servants",  but  in  reality, remained slaves for the duration of
 their lives.
   In 1817, the Legislature enacted a statute that gave  freedom  to  New
 York  slaves who had been born before July 4, 1799. This statute did not
 become effective until July 4, 1827, however.
   Despite these laws, there were exceptions under which certain  persons
 could  still  own slaves. Non-residents could enter New York with slaves
 for up to nine months, and allowing part-time residents to  bring  their
 slaves  into  the  state temporarily. The nine-months exception remained
 law until its repeal in 1841, when the North was re-defining  itself  as
 the "free" region in advance of the civil war.

 S. 7215                             3
 
   In  1991,  a huge African burial ground was discovered in the heart of
 New York's financial district during construction of a  skyscraper.  The
 excavations  that  followed  the termination of the construction project
 yielded the skeletal remains of 419 Africans, many of  whom  were  women
 and children.
   The  slavery  that  flourished  in  the  New York state constituted an
 immoral and inhumane deprivation of  Africans'  life,  liberty,  African
 citizenship rights, and cultural heritage, and denied them the fruits of
 their  own  labor. Sufficient inquiry has not been made into the effects
 of the institution of slavery on living African-Americans and society in
 New York.
   § 3. Establishment, purpose and duties of the commission.   a.  Estab-
 lishment.  There  is  hereby  established  the  New York state community
 commission on reparations  remedies  (hereinafter  referred  to  as  the
 "commission").
   b. Duties. The commission shall perform the following duties:
   (1)  Examine the institution of slavery which existed within the state
 of New York and in the city of New York.  The  commission's  examination
 shall include, but not be limited to, an examination of:
   (A) the capture and procurement of Africans;
   (B)  the  transport  of Africans to the United States and the colonies
 that became the United States for the purpose of enslavement,  including
 their treatment during transport;
   (C) the sale and acquisition of Africans as chattel property in inter-
 state and intrastate commerce; and
   (D) the treatment of enslaved Africans in the city of New York and the
 state of New York, including the deprivation of their freedom, exploita-
 tion  of  their labor, and destruction of their culture, language, reli-
 gion, and families.
   (2) Examine the extent to which the federal and state  governments  of
 the United States supported the institution of slavery in constitutional
 and statutory provisions, including the extent to which such governments
 prevented,  opposed, or restricted efforts of freed enslaved Africans to
 repatriate to their homeland.
   (3) Examine federal and state laws that  discriminated  against  freed
 enslaved  Africans  and  their descendants during the period between the
 end of the Civil War and the present.
   (4) Examine other forms of discrimination in the  public  and  private
 sectors against freed enslaved Africans and their descendants during the
 period between the end of the Civil War and the present.
   (5) Examine the lingering negative effects of the institution of slav-
 ery  and  the  matters described in paragraphs (1), (2), (3), and (4) of
 this subdivision on living  African-Americans  and  on  society  in  the
 United States.
   (6)  Recommend  appropriate ways to educate the American public of the
 commission's findings.
   (7) Recommend appropriate remedies in  consideration  of  the  commis-
 sion's  findings  on  the matters described in paragraphs (1), (2), (3),
 and (4) of this subdivision. The commission shall determine the form  of
 compensation,  the amount of compensation and who should be eligible for
 such compensation.
   c. Report to the legislature. The commission shall  submit  a  written
 report of its findings and recommendations to the temporary president of
 the  senate,  the  speaker  of the assembly, the minority leaders of the
 senate and the assembly and the governor not later than the  date  which

 S. 7215                             4

 is  one  year after the date of the first meeting of the commission held
 pursuant to subdivision c of section four of this act.
   §  4.  Membership.  a. Appointment of members. The commission shall be
 composed of eleven members who shall be appointed within 90  days  after
 the effective date of this act, as follows:
   (1) one member shall be appointed by the governor;
   (2) one member shall be appointed by the speaker of the assembly;
   (3)  one  member  shall be appointed by the temporary president of the
 senate;
   (4) one member shall be appointed by the minority leader of the assem-
 bly;
   (5) one member shall be  appointed  by  the  minority  leader  of  the
 senate;
   (6) two members shall be appointed by the National Coalition of Blacks
 for Reparations in America (N.C.O.B.R.A.);
   (7) two members shall be appointed by the December 12th Movement; and
   (8)  two  members  shall  be  appointed  by the Institute of the Black
 World.
   b. Qualification of members. All members of the  commission  shall  be
 persons  who  are  especially  qualified  to  serve on the commission by
 virtue of their education, training, or experience, particularly in  the
 field of African-American studies.
   c.  First  meeting.  The  chair  shall  call  the first meeting of the
 commission within 120 days after the effective date of this act.
   d. Quorum. Six members of the commission shall  constitute  a  quorum,
 but a lesser number may hold hearings.
   e.  Chair  and vice chair. The commission shall elect a Chair and Vice
 Chair from among its members.
   f. Compensation. The  members  of  the  commission  shall  receive  no
 compensation  for their services as members, but shall be reimbursed for
 their actual and necessary expenses incurred in the performance of their
 duties.
   § 5. Powers of the commission.  a. Hearings and sessions. The  commis-
 sion  may,  for  the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act,
 hold such hearings and sit and act at such times and at such  places  in
 the United States, as the commission considers appropriate.
   b.  Powers of subcommittees and members. Any subcommittee or member of
 the commission may, if authorized by the  commission,  take  any  action
 which the commission is authorized to take by this section.
   c.  Obtaining  official data. The commission may acquire directly from
 the head of any department, agency, or  instrumentality  of  the  state,
 available  information  which  the  commission  considers  useful in the
 discharge of its duties. All departments, agencies,  and  instrumentali-
 ties  of  the  state shall cooperate with the commission with respect to
 such information and shall furnish  all  information  requested  by  the
 commission to the extent permitted by law.
   §  6.  Termination.  The  commission shall terminate 90 days after the
 date on which the commission submits its report to the temporary  presi-
 dent of the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the minority leaders of
 the  senate and the assembly and the governor as provided in subdivision
 c of section three of this act.
   § 7. This act shall take effect immediately and shall  expire  and  be
 deemed repealed 90 days after the New York state community commission to
 study reparations remedies submits its report to the temporary president
 of  the senate, the speaker of the assembly, the minority leaders of the
 senate and the assembly and the governor as provided in subdivision c of

 S. 7215                             5
 
 section three of this act; provided that, the  chair  of  the  New  York
 state  community  commission  to study reparations remedies shall notify
 the legislative bill drafting commission  upon  the  submission  of  its
 report  as  provided  in  subdivision  c of section three of this act in
 order that the commission may maintain an accurate and timely  effective
 data  base  of the official text of the laws of the state of New York in
 furtherance of effecting the provisions of section 44 of the legislative
 law and section 70-b of the public officers law.