California Gov. Gavin Newsom has vetoed a bill that would have permitted schools to give slave descendants special consideration in admissions.
Newsom said the bill was “unnecessary.”
“These institutions already have the authority to determine whether to provide admissions preferences like this one, and accordingly, this bill is unnecessary,” Newsom said in his veto. “I encourage the institutions referenced in this bill to review and determine how, when, and if this type of preference can be adopted.”
“For this reason, I cannot sign this bill,” Newsom added.
Critics had claimed the bill would violate Proposition 209 which prohibits public universities in California from considering race in admissions and a 2023 Supreme Court ruling prohibiting race-based affirmative action, Politico reported.
Democrat Assemblyman Isaac Bryan, who authored the bill, called the veto, “more than disappointing.”
“While the Trump administration threatens our institutions of higher learning and attacks the foundations of diversity and inclusivity, now is not the time to shy away from the fight to protect students who have descended from legacies of harm and exclusion,” Bryan said in a statement.
The school admissions bill passed the Assembly 55-18 and the Senate 30-10. It was supported by the University of California Student Association and the California Faculty Association.
The bill defined “descendants of slavery” as someone directly related to a person who was subjected to American chattel slavery and was then either freed, classified as a runaway, or served in the military while facing restrictions due to slavery.
Newsom had recently approved a state agency to administer reparations and signed a bill requiring the California State University system to develop procedures to determine who qualifies as a slavery descendant, according to Politico.
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