Proposal Would Prevent Reparations

©2023 The News Service of Florida.

A Senate Republican on Monday filed a proposed constitutional amendment that would prevent the state and local governments from paying reparations to descendants of slaves. Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, R-Spring Hill, filed the proposal (SJR 582) for consideration during the 2024 legislative session, which will start in January. Ingoglia, a former chairman of the state Republican Party, wants to put the proposal on the November 2024 ballot. It would need approval from 60 percent of the Senate and the House to go before voters. As of early Monday evening, a similar proposal had not been filed in the House. The proposal says it would “prohibit the state, a county, a municipality, and any other political subdivision from paying compensation in the form of reparations to an individual who is a descendant of an enslaved individual who lived in the United States before December 6, 1865.” The possibility of reparations has been discussed in some areas of the country, such as in California, where a task force issued a major report this summer.