Buried in New York's recently passed state budget is an 18-month extension granted to a state panel studying the thorny issue of reparations for slavery.
The commission, which was scheduled to submit a written report of its findings and recommendations this summer, now has until early 2027 to do so — after the conclusion of the important 2026 midterm elections.
State Sen. James Sanders, a Queens Democrat who has championed the commission’s work, called the original 12-month timeline "ambitious and challenging" in a statement.
He attributed the change to necessity, but the extension will also forestall any potentially difficult votes beyond the 2026 state and federal elections.
"In California, this work took two years,” Sanders said. “While we appreciate the boldness of the timeline, an additional 18 months is both prudent and necessary to ensure this process is thorough, credible and impactful."
The commission did not immediately respond to questions about the extension.
State Assemblymember Michaelle C. Solages, a Democrat from Nassau County, said the extension was needed “because this is the first commission of its kind established in New York state history.”
“As an independent body, there were many steps required to get it up and running — hiring staff, securing administrative infrastructure and setting up the systems needed to operate effectively,” Solages said in a statement. “That foundational work takes time, and the extension ensures the commission can now move forward with public engagement and research.”
The commission is tasked with examining the historical and modern-day consequences of slavery and racial discrimination, as well as recommendations for policymakers. The subject gained added attention in New York and elsewhere amid the racial reckoning following George Floyd's 2020 murder by police in Minneapolis.
But such efforts have since dimmed in ambition — including in California, where robust reparations proposals were scaled back in the face of public and political opposition. At the national level, President Donald Trump’s administration has taken aim at various race-sensitive programs, from curtailing diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to ending civil rights inquiries on disparate policy impacts.
While New York’s panel has been slow getting off the ground, others have weighed in on the issue of reparations. The Montgomery, Alabama-based Equal Justice Initiative wrote in a major 2022 report and exhibition that enslavement was a “defining feature of New York City’s origin story.”
New York abolished slavery in 1827, but the enslavement of Black New Yorkers and policies after slavery ended contributed to a vast racial wealth gap, according to historians and scholars.
New York City Comptroller Brad Lander said in a 2023 analysis that the median household net worth for Black New Yorkers was $18,870, compared to $276,900 for white New Yorkers, or 15 times as much. Still, most Americans oppose reparations for the descendants of enslaved people, according to the Pew Research Center.
In revising the original deadline, the state budget stipulated that the “commission shall submit a written report of its findings and recommendations” to the governor and legislative leaders “not later than 30 months after the date of the first meeting of the commission,” which was held on July 30, 2024.
Nicole Carty, executive director of Get Free, a group that has backed reparations, said members of her organization “support our elected leaders providing the commissioners with the time and resources they need to gather testimony and evidence of the longstanding harms and inequalities facing Black people in our state.”
"This historic commission is providing New Yorkers with a roadmap for righting the wrongs of injustice in our state from its foundation,” Carty said in a statement.
The commission is holding its next public hearing virtually on May 28.
