California’s Reparations Task Force raised eyebrows with a few of its recent proposals — namely suggesting that black residents should...
California’s Reparations Task Force raised eyebrows with a few of its recent proposals — namely suggesting that black residents should not be held responsible for back child support debt and public urination laws should not be enforced at all.
According to the task force’s final report, “discriminatory laws” are responsible for the large number of black children born to unwed mothers — resulting in a higher percentage of black fathers who owe child support.
Additionally, the report determined that the state’s 10% interest applied to back child support debt makes it more difficult for black fathers to further their educations while trying to keep ahead of payments. For those reasons, the task force has called for the interest on such child support payments to be waived and for back child support debt to be erased if the debtor is black.
“The Task Force recommends that the Legislature enact legislation to terminate all interest accrued on back child support, requiring only the payment of the principal owed. At a minimum, the proposal recommends that the Legislature eliminate the prospective accrual of interest on child support debt for low-income parents,” the report read.
Additionally, the report called for a total ban on police enforcing public urination laws.
Arguing that the enforcement of public urination laws — as well as other “public nuisance” offenses — amounted to “criminalizing poverty,” the task force found that having police as the first point of contact raised the risk of a confrontation that could turn violent.
Advocating for a “public health” approach rather than one rooted in law enforcement, the task force said, “This disconnect often results in the use of excessive and sometimes fatal force that falls disproportionately on Black individuals. Given the devastating impacts of this kind of over-policing, the Task Force recommends that the Legislature prohibit law enforcement from criminally enforcing public disorder infractions and other low-level crimes.”
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