S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
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                                   7691
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                               June 5, 2023
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  M. of A. SOLAGES, LUCAS -- read once and referred to the
   Committee on Ways and Means
 
 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 people of
   African  descent,  and  the impact of these forces on living people of
   African descent 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 believe,  slavery  was
 not just a Southern institution. Prior to the American Revolution, there
 were  more  enslaved  Africans  in  New York City than in any other city
 except Charleston, South Carolina. During this period, enslaved Africans
 accounted for 20% of the population of New York and approximately 40% of
 colonial New York's households owned enslaved Africans.  These  enslaved
 Africans  were  an  integral  part  of  the population which settled and
 developed what we now know as the State of New York.
   The first enslaved Africans arrived in New Amsterdam, a Dutch  settle-
 ment  established  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 West India Company had estab-
 lished 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 on 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.
                                                            LBD00148-10-3
              

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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 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 of the
 city 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 hinder the system of slav-
 ery; it was an enormously profitable enterprise and it  continued  under
 English  control.  In fact, the English enacted new slave codes aimed at
 keeping this population repressed. Further, a new class  of  pro-slavery
 business  owners also emerged seeking to, directly and indirectly, bene-
 fit from 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.  Enslaved  Africans  produced goods for sale and
 worked in private homes. Even newspapers benefited from slavery:  adver-
 tisements of enslaved Africans for  purchase  were  a  major  source  of
 revenue for the papers during the eighteenth century. With these econom-
 ic  relationships in place, the pro-slavery forces in New York jealously
 guarded what they viewed as their financial interests.
   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 enslaved Africans.  Enslaved Afri-
 cans 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 move-
 ment included requiring enslaved Africans 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  of  a
 network known as the Underground Railroad.
   Moreover, a powerful abolitionist movement developed. Nonetheless, 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,  at  a  time  when  sixteen
 sitting  New  York  State  Senators  personally owned dozens of enslaved
 Africans, passed "An Act for the Gradual  Abolition  of  Slavery."  This
 legislation  was  a  first step in the direction of emancipation, but it
 provided little relief in the short-term. Rather, it provided for only a
 gradual manumission. All children born to enslaved women after  July  4,
 1799  would be freed, but only after their most productive years: age 28
 for men and age 25 for women. Enslaved  Africans  already  in  servitude
 before  July  4, 1799 were reclassified as "indentured servants," but in
 reality, remained enslaved Africans for the duration of their lives.
   In 1817, the New York State Legislature enacted a  statute  that  gave
 freedom  to  New York enslaved Africans who had been born before July 4,
 1799. However, this statute did not become effective until July 4, 1827.
   Despite these laws, there were exceptions under which certain  persons
 could  still  own  enslaved Africans. Non-residents could enter New York
 with enslaved Africans for up to nine months, and the law allowed  part-
 A. 7691                             3
 
 time residents to bring their enslaved Africans into the state temporar-
 ily.  The  nine-month  exception  remained law until its repeal in 1841,
 when the North was redefining itself as the "free" region in advance  of
 the Civil War.
   Nevertheless,  many  formerly  enslaved  Africans  fleeing slavery and
 arriving in New York were forced back into slavery following  the  Fugi-
 tive  Slave  Law  of  1850. Moreover, even as the laws regarding slavery
 were loosened, both public and private discrimination continued to main-
 tain similar social relationships and racial hierarchies.
   During the Civil War, sentiments in New York regarding  the  war  were
 divided  and tense. New York's finance and local institutions were still
 deeply entangled in the slave trade in the South and the Caribbean,  and
 New  York  profited  tremendously  from the trade in Southern cotton. By
 some estimates, New York received 40% of U.S. cotton revenue through its
 financial firms, shipping businesses, and insurance companies.
   Near the start of the war,  in  January  1861,  New  York  City  Mayor
 Fernando  Wood  actually suggested to the New York City Council that New
 York secede and declare itself a "free city" in order  to  continue  its
 profitable  cotton  trade  with  the Confederacy. These same pro-slavery
 forces erupted into violence when  the  national  Conscription  Act  was
 enacted on July 11, 1863. Pro-slavery forces engaged in "draft riots" in
 New  York  City,  violently  targeting Black Americans. Before the riots
 were finally stopped by federal troops four days  later,  over  119  New
 Yorkers,  mostly  Black Americans, had been killed. After the end of the
 Civil War, Congress passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments to  offi-
 cially  end slavery, make Black people citizens, and enable Black men to
 enjoy all rights of citizenship including the right  to  vote.  Although
 New  York  had  given  Black  men the right to vote in 1827, it retained
 property requirements, and included new restrictions  on  the  right  to
 vote  for those accused of committing crimes, to continuously maintain a
 system of disenfranchisement. On April 14, 1869, New York  ratified  the
 15th  Amendment  in  a party-line vote. In 1870, however, control of the
 Senate changed to those who were sympathetic to  the  recently  defeated
 South,  with State Senator William "Boss" Tweed leading a charge for New
 York to rescind its ratification of the 15th amendment (i.e., the  right
 to  vote).  New York legislators at the time claimed that allowing Black
 New Yorkers to vote "would introduce ignorance to the ballot box and the
 suffrage would be cheapened  and  degraded".  Along  another  party-line
 vote,  New  York  rescinded its ratification. Fortunately, however, this
 rescission did not prevent the 15th Amendment from being ratified.
   Following the Civil War, conditions for Black Americans  in  New  York
 remained  poor.  Newly  emancipated  enslaved  people and their families
 needed to contend with both public and  private  discrimination  in  the
 State  of New York.  Although civil rights legislation was passed in the
 years following the Civil War, in an attempt to guard  against  acts  of
 discrimination,  Associate Justice Joseph P. Bradley, of New York State,
 wrote a majority (8-1) decision for the  United  States  Supreme  Court,
 striking down these civil rights laws. The case related to an 1879 inci-
 dent, where a Black New Yorker had been turned away from the Grand Opera
 House  located  on West 23rd Street and 8th Avenue; even though this man
 had paid for a ticket, he was turned away, and a local policeman  forci-
 bly  removed  him  from the premises. Although the following lawsuit was
 brought under the civil rights act, Justice Bradley rejected the claims,
 stating: "Can the act of a mere individual, the owner of  the  inn,  the
 public  conveyance or place of amusement, refusing the accommodation, be
 justly regarded as imposing any badge of slavery or servitude  upon  the
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 applicant...?  After  giving  to  these  questions all the consideration
 which their importance demands, we are forced  to  the  conclusion  that
 such  an  act  of  refusal has nothing to do with slavery or involuntary
 servitude." With this ruling, private citizens were once again permitted
 to lawfully discriminate against their fellow New Yorkers, with no legal
 recourse. A subsequent New York Times editorial, however, stated that it
 did  not foresee any substantial changes in daily life because the civil
 rights  legislation  to  protect  Black  New  Yorkers  "has  never  been
 enforced" in any meaningful way.
   With  this  legal precedent, expanding even more broadly when the 1896
 case of Plessy v. Ferguson explicitly permitted segregated railroads and
 street cars, Jim Crow laws, along with various forms of private discrim-
 ination, spread across the  country  and  New  York  State.  Segregation
 became  particularly common in both education and housing. In 1883, when
 a Black resident of Kings County sought to  enroll  her  daughter  in  a
 school for white children, her child was denied admission. In the subse-
 quent lawsuit of People, ex. Rel King v. Gallagher, the Court ruled in a
 4-2  decision that "[t]he system of authorizing the education of the two
 races separately has been for many  years  the  settled  policy  of  all
 departments  of  the  State  government, and it is believed obtains very
 generally in the States of the Union." The New  York  Court  of  Appeals
 upheld  the  segregation  of  schools in Kings County. Although the laws
 have changed in the years since this decision, research has  shown  that
 up to the present day of this writing, New York still is the most segre-
 gated state for Black students.
   Discrimination  in  housing  has  also  been a persistent and constant
 issue in New York since the  Civil  War.  In  addition  to  the  housing
 inequality  that  came with wealth inequality, landlords have engaged in
 discriminatory housing practices. Black  Americans  of  all  backgrounds
 typically  paid  disproportionately  higher  rents, and were forced into
 dilapidated tenement conditions, with the support of  public  officials.
 This  pattern  of  geographic  isolation  would continue to impact Black
 Americans in New  York  continuously  throughout  the  years,  including
 through the state-sanctioned discriminatory "redlining" practices in the
 1930s,  and in the segregationist urban planning implemented by individ-
 uals like Robert Moses in later decades. Importantly, the Federal  Hous-
 ing  Administration  (FHA),  an institution that refused to insure mort-
 gages in or near African American neighborhoods, subsidized builders who
 were creating subdivisions and developments in  the  suburbs,  with  the
 proviso  that  none of the homes be sold to African Americans. For exam-
 ple,  in  Levittown,  New  York,  the  FHA  guaranteed  bank  loans  for
 construction and development to Levittown on the condition that no homes
 be  sold  to African-Americans, and that every home have a clause in its
 deed prohibiting resale to African-Americans.
   The consequences of these past practices are still with us  today.  In
 1991, a massive African burial ground was discovered in the heart of New
 York's  financial  district during the 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 consequences of slavery in New York State is not an  echo  of  the
 past,  but  can  still  be  observed  in daily life. Systemic racism has
 cemented a legacy of  generational  poverty,  and  we  still  see  today
 instances of voter suppression, housing discrimination, biased policing,
 food  apartheid, and disproportionate rates of incarceration. Currently,
 in the United States, the imprisonment rate of Black Americans for  drug
 A. 7691                             5
 
 charges is almost six times that of white Americans, despite the rate of
 drug  usage  being  similar  among both groups. Likewise, the use of the
 "Stop and Frisk" tactic by the New York City Police Department  has  had
 disparate  impacts:   at the policy's peak in 2011, an estimated 685,724
 people were stopped, with fifty-three percent of those being Black, even
 though only twenty-six percent of New York City's population was  Black.
 These  policies  have  also  led to the tragic deaths of Black Americans
 here in New York, such as Daniel Prude, who was  unarmed  and  facing  a
 mental  health  crisis  when  he  was  forcibly  restrained by Rochester
 police, and ultimately died due to complications of  asphyxia  resulting
 from his restraint.
   New  York  State's status as an economic and cultural hub of the world
 has been built and shaped by  slavery.  The  contributions  of  enslaved
 Africans has provided the resources upon which trade and commerce in New
 York  was  built.  Some of our most prestigious institutions and infras-
 tructure were built with these contributions. However,  New  York  State
 also  has  the  largest  income disparity in the country, and that large
 disparity is in large part the legacy of our slave system.
   This legislation is necessary because the slavery that  flourished  in
 New  York State constituted an immoral and inhumane deprivation of Afri-
 cans' life, liberty, citizenship rights, cultural heritage,  and  denied
 them  the  fruits  of their own labor. A sufficient inquiry has not been
 made into the effects of the institution of slavery on present day soci-
 ety 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 what is now known as New York City
 and New York State 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, including the direct and indirect bene-
 fits that New York received from these economic relationships;
   (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; and
   (E)  the treatment of formerly enslaved Africans and their descendants
 in the City of New York and the State of  New  York  during  the  period
 between the end of the Civil War and the present.
   (2) Examine the extent to which the federal government, as well as the
 state  and  local  governments of New York, supported the institution of
 slavery, including the  extent  to  which  such  governments  prevented,
 opposed,  or restricted efforts of freed enslaved Africans to repatriate
 to their homeland.
   (3) Examine how New York State engaged in the interstate  transfer  of
 enslaved  Africans,  and carried out federal policies in the furtherance
 of slavery.
   (4) Examine the de jure and  de  facto  discrimination  against  freed
 enslaved  Africans,  their  descendants,  and people of African descent,
 A. 7691                             6
 
 generally, at both the state and federal levels  of  government,  during
 the  period between the end of the Civil War and the present, including,
 but  not  limited  to,  economic,  political,  educational,  and  social
 discrimination.
   (5) Examine the lingering negative effects of the institution of slav-
 ery and discrimination on living people of African descent and on socie-
 ty in the State of New York.
   (6)  Examine the current condition of living people of African descent
 in the State of New York, to the extent practicable, including, but  not
 limited to, economic, political, educational, and social conditions.
   (7)  Recommend  appropriate  ways to educate the public of the commis-
 sion's findings.
   (8) Recommend appropriate remedies and reparations in consideration of
 the commission's findings on the matters described in paragraphs  1,  2,
 3,  4,  5,  and  6 of this subdivision to determine how the state of New
 York may provide for appropriate laws, policies, programs, projects, and
 other recommendations in order to reverse such injuries.  Such  remedies
 may  include  compensation,  including  but not limited to the amount of
 compensation and who should be eligible for such compensation.
   (9) Examine the feasibility for the creation of a bureau to assist  in
 the  distribution  and  administration  of  remedies  and reparations as
 recommended by the commission pursuant to paragraph 8 of  this  subdivi-
 sion.
   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 one year after
 the date of the first meeting of the commission held pursuant to  subdi-
 vision c of section four of this act.
   §  4.  Membership.  a. Appointment of members. The commission shall be
 composed of nine members who shall be appointed within 90 days after the
 effective date of this act, as follows:
   (1) three members shall be appointed by the governor;
   (2) three members shall be appointed by the speaker of the assembly;
   (3) three members shall be appointed by the temporary president of the
 senate.
   b. Qualification of members. All members appointed to  the  commission
 shall be persons who are especially qualified to serve on the commission
 by  virtue of their expertise, education, training, or lived experience,
 in the fields of African or American studies, the criminal legal system,
 human rights, civil rights, law, economics,  psychology,  civil  society
 and  reparations  organizations  that  have  historically championed the
 cause of reparatory justice, clergy, and/or the history  of  slavery  in
 New  York, and, to the extent possible, represent geographically diverse
 areas of the state.
   c. First meeting. The first meeting of the commission shall take place
 within 180 days after the effective date of this act.
   d. Quorum. Five 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 no later than the first meeting.
   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.
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   § 5. Powers of the commission.  a. Hearings and sessions. The  commis-
 sion  shall, for the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this act,
 solicit public input from stakeholders and interested parties, and shall
 hold such public hearings 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.   The commission may also
 coordinate  with  historically  black  colleges  and  universities   and
 research  centers to conduct research and acquire additional information
 which the commission considers useful in the  discharge  of  its  duties
 pursuant to this act.
   §  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
 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.