Today's Law As Amended


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AB-1950 Task force: former Chavez Ravine property: eminent domain: compensation.(2023-2024)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The United States of America has not fully addressed governmental involvement in redlining, racial covenants, housing segregation, and other discriminatory housing practices experienced by Native, Latinx, Black, Asian, and Pacific Islander communities.
(b) Federal, state, and local governments have deliberately structured the availability of opportunities, implemented policies and practices, and assigned value based on race, physical characteristics, and national origin, which has and continues to perpetuate unjust disadvantages for Native, Latinx, Black, Asian, and Pacific Islander communities.
(c) Systemic discrimination based on race and ethnicity continues to hinder entire communities from realizing their full potential, as evidenced by segregation, Jim Crow laws, and the Undesirable Aliens Act of 1929. Historical practices include state-sanctioned housing discrimination through redlining, and the enforcement of racially restrictive covenants. Additionally, there has been inequitable access to opportunities for social mobility and wealth creation due to poor access to care, health resources, and education for underrepresented communities of color.
(d) These historic inequities have resulted in the deprivation of marginalized communities from access to land and retention of their property rights, economic opportunities, and generational wealth.
(e) Against this backdrop of racially motivated policies, the injustices in the City of Los Angeles (city) communities of La Loma, Bishop, and Palo Verde stand as a stark example, where residents were unjustly removed without proper compensation, epitomizing the ongoing struggle for equity and justice in housing and land rights.
(f) References to Chavez Ravine shall be made throughout this act, yet it is important to clarify that there was no singular “Chavez Ravine” neighborhood. Instead, there were three distinct neighborhoods—La Loma, Bishop, and Palo Verde—that have, over time, been collectively referred to in public discourse and historiography as Chavez Ravine. This act uses the term “Chavez Ravine” as a shorthand to represent the collective experience of all three neighborhoods, acknowledging the historical conflation of their identities.
(g) The Chavez Ravine neighborhood is approximately 315 acres and is in northeast Los Angeles. Chavez Ravine housed more than 1,800 families and is an example of how racial discrimination against people of color reached crisis proportions and resulted in the forced displacement of estimated 3,800 individuals. The displacement of these residents has caused large, long-lasting disparities in housing, family stability, health, mental wellness, education, employment, economic development, public safety, and justice.
(h) Despite the perspectives of outsiders and City of Los Angeles officials, who often labeled the community as a “vacant shantytown,” “The Poor Man’s Shangri-La,” and an “eyesore,” these neighborhoods were, in fact, vibrant and cohesive communities, serving as a hub for homeownership and economic development and growth for people of color.
(i) In 1950, Chavez Ravine’s 315 acres were earmarked by the city as a prime location for redevelopment. The city condemned the community land through the power of eminent domain for the purpose of constructing public housing. That same year, Chavez Ravine residents and property owners received letters from the city demanding the sale of their homes to make the land available for the proposed “Elysian Park project.” The city promised displaced families that they would have the opportunity to return to new homes in the newly redeveloped housing project.
(j) As a result of these intentional acts consistent with a racially motivated history of redlining and property seizure, by 1952, the community was a ghost town, and in the following years, the land would be sold below the market value or auctioned off against the will of the landowners. Churches, schools, and cemeteries were bulldozed and buried. The promises of new permanent housing would be abandoned, and land titles would never be returned to the original owners. By 1958, the Elysian Park Heights housing project had unraveled, and the city conveyed the Chavez Ravine land to a private entity for an insignificant amount considering the land’s value. The private entity built a sports stadium and parking lot on the site.
(k) Chavez Ravine was wrongfully condemned land, and its residents were displaced and unjustly deprived of their constitutional right to own property. The fraudulent appropriation of land from private individuals on the basis of race, ethnicity, or national origin is against the public interest and denies individuals and communities the right to enjoyment, ownership, and inheritance of land, as well as the inalienable right to control one’s property.
(l) The government has a responsibility to prohibit and eliminate racial and ethnic discrimination in all forms and to ensure that all persons are entitled to security against forced removal from housing, harassment, and intimidation by any entities that deprive individuals of their rights to self-determination and dignity on the basis of race.
(m) As set forth in precedential landmark legislation, Senate Bill 796 (Chapter 435 of the Statutes of 2021): “Government must act in the public’s interest to ensure that communities can fairly access justice and an effective remedy, including, when appropriate, the potential return, restitution, resettlement, rehabilitation, or compensation, for unlawful and race-based displacements.”
(n) Actions taken by the city disenfranchised more than 1,800 Angelino families, and approximately 3,800 individuals in the Chavez Ravine area. It is in the interest of the public, the State of California, the County of Los Angeles, and the city to create a task force to oversee and report on the investigation and assessed value of the lost housing and land, the compensation requirements for displaced residents and landowners of Chavez Ravine, potential compensation for their descendants, and ensuring the construction of a memorial to be erected on the Chavez Ravine site.

SEC. 2.

 Chapter 16.5 (commencing with Section 7278) is added to Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code, to read:

CHAPTER  16.5. Chavez Ravine Community
7278.
 (a) The purpose of this chapter is to develop a task force that will evaluate the history of the residents, business owners, and landowners displaced from the Chavez Ravine area between 1950 to 1961, inclusive, in order to provide the city, county, and the Legislature with recommendations to provide just compensation to descendants of the residents, business owners, and landowners displaced from the Chavez Ravine area.
(b) For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:
(1) “City” means the City of Los Angeles.
(2) “County” means the County of Los Angeles.
(3) “Descendant” means a lineal descendant born in a direct line from a displaced resident, business owner, or landowner of the Chavez Ravine property who was wrongfully displaced between 1950 to 1961, inclusive. Descendants may include, but are not limited to, a person’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
(c) There is hereby established within the state government a task force known as the Chavez Ravine Displaced Residents Task Force, in accordance with the requirements set forth in subdivision (h). The task force shall review the history and any records relating to the displacement of residents and businesses from Chavez Ravine from 1950 to 1961, inclusive, in order to develop recommendations for the city, county, and Legislature regarding how to provide just compensation to the persons wrongfully displaced from Chavez Ravine from 1950 to 1961, inclusive, or their descendants.
(d) The task force shall create an official and complete historical accounting of the property owners, business owners, and residents who were evicted or displaced, and land acquired through eminent domain or other coercive tactics, with which the city can create an official, public, and educational account of the events that took place at Chavez Ravine between 1950 and 1961, inclusive. Further, the historical accounting shall also include a review and report about the appropriation of land from private persons from 1950 to 1961, inclusive, including all relevant city and county information.
(e) The task force shall provide recommendations regarding consideration of development of a publicly accessible searchable database. The task force shall consider whether a database should be developed that may include, but not be limited to, any or all of the following:
(1) Information about former residents, business owners, and landowners evicted or displaced.
(2) Payment receipts by public and private agencies for purchase of property located in the Chavez Ravine community.
(3) Land acquisition methods used by all public agencies to acquire the Chavez Ravine property.
(4) Identification of all divisions of government involved in the displacement of Chavez Ravine residents.
(5) Correspondence between the city and the county and private entities, public government agencies, residents, and landowners of Chavez Ravine.
(f) The task force shall make recommendations on all of the following regarding compensation for individuals displaced from Chavez Ravine:
(1) Establishing a process for determining the individuals that shall be eligible for compensation on the basis that they were displaced, or are the descendants of those who were displaced, from Chavez Ravine from 1950 to 1961, inclusive.
(2) The apportionment of responsibility among public or private entities for providing compensation.
(3) A method or methods for determining the amount of just compensation for those individuals that accounts for the harms suffered by those individuals, and the forms of just compensation for the displaced persons or their descendants. The forms of compensation that shall be considered for recommendation may include the transfer of real property, monetary compensation, relocation benefits, health care benefits, employment-related services, educational scholarships, a community benefits agreement, or other forms of compensation deemed fair and equitable by the task force in accordance with this chapter.
(g) The city shall construct a permanent memorial, to be erected no later than December 31, 2028, in recognition of the displaced residents and landowners of the Chavez Ravine community. The memorial shall include interpretive and informational signs and structures, as well as areas to accommodate public gathering and contemplation, and include educating future generations regarding the impact of this displacement and historical discriminatory policies in the city.
(h) The task force shall consist of the following nine members:
(1) An elected official of the city or a designee thereof, appointed by the city council.
(2) An elected official of the county, or designee thereof, appointed by the board of supervisors.
(3) One ex officio member of the Senate, or their designee, appointed by the President pro Tempore of the Senate and one individual appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, who shall both service as the cochairpersons of the task force. A designee of the ex officio member of the Assembly or member of the Senate shall be authorized to make decisions on behalf of the member.
(4) (A) Three descendants of displaced Chavez Ravine landowners, business owners, or residents.
(B) The Speaker of the Assembly, the President pro Tempore of the Senate, and the Governor shall each appoint one individual identified in subparagraph (A).
(5) One individual from the field of academia with expertise in the historical record of Chavez Ravine during the designated time, appointed by the Governor.
(6) One member, appointed by the Governor, with expertise in historical injustice, representing either of the following:
(A) A nonprofit organization with a social justice mission located within the city or county.
(B) A civil organization located within the city or county.
(i) In carrying out its duties pursuant to this chapter, the task force shall consult with the Gabrielino-Tongva Nation.
(j) The term of office for members shall be for the life of the task force. A vacancy in the task force shall not affect the powers of the task force and shall be filled in the same manner that the original appointment was made. Five members of the task force shall constitute a quorum.
(k) (1) Members of the task force that are currently elected officials or their designees shall not be entitled to receive per diem, or any form of similar compensation, for their participation in the task force.
(2) Other members of the task force shall be entitled to receive per diem and reimbursement for their actual and necessary expenses in performing their duties.
(l) The first meeting of the task force shall occur on or before July 31, 2025.
(m) (1) The task force shall submit to the city, county, and Legislature a comprehensive report detailing its recommendations for a database pursuant to subdivision (e) and recommendations for compensation to displaced Chavez Ravine residents, business owners, and landowners pursuant to subdivision (f). This report shall also include the recommendations for strategies for educating the public about the history and impact of the Chavez Ravine displacements pursuant to subdivision (g). The report shall be submitted on or before January 1, 2028. A one-time six-month extension, until June 1, 2028, may be granted by the Governor upon written request.
(2) The report submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795.
7278.1.
 (a) For the purpose of carrying out the provisions of this chapter, the task force may do all of the following:
(1) Hold hearings and sit and act at any time and location in the county.
(2) Request the attendance and testimony of witnesses.
(3) Request the production of books, records, correspondence, memoranda, papers, and documents.
(4) Acquire from the city or county available information that the task force considers useful in the discharge of its duties. The city and the county shall cooperate with the task force with respect to such information and shall furnish all information requested by the task force to the extent permitted by law. The task force shall keep confidential any information received from the city or county that is confidential or exempt from the California Public Records Act (Division 10 (commencing with Section 7920.000)).
(5) Appoint and fix the compensation of such personnel as the task force considers appropriate.
(6) Procure supplies, services, and property by contract in accordance with applicable laws and rules.
(7) Enter into contracts for the purposes of conducting research or surveys, preparing reports, and performing other activities necessary for the discharge of the duties of the task force.
(b) Operation of the provisions of this chapter shall be subject to appropriation by the Legislature.
SEC. 3.
 The provisions of this act are severable. If any provision of this act or its application is held invalid, that invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications that can be given effect without the invalid provision or application.
SEC. 4.
 The Legislature finds and declares that a special statute is necessary and that a general statute cannot be made applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution because of the unusual circumstances surrounding the land ownership and tenant rights on land known as Chavez Ravine.
SEC. 5.
 If the Commission on State Mandates determines that this act contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement to local agencies and school districts for those costs shall be made pursuant to Part 7 (commencing with Section 17500) of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code.