Legislative · State · CA
California Governor Vetoes Bill Creating Postsecondary Admissions Preference for Descendants of Slavery (AB7)
- Direction
- -2 — major harm to freedmen
- Force
- 1.00 — enacted, vetoed, or final
- Status
- Decided
- Date
- 2025-10-13
Why this rating
If enacted, AB7 would have created a lineage-specific mechanism — an admissions preference tied to descent from enslaved persons — providing direct, material access benefits to freedmen in California public postsecondary institutions (direction would be +2 for the underlying bill). However, the Governor's veto on October 13, 2025 terminated that mechanism before it could take effect, and the legislature's subsequent decision to strike consideration of a veto override from the file (January 22, 2026) closed off any path to revival this session. Because a veto is a completed, final action under this system's force scale, this entry records the realized outcome — denial of the lineage-based benefit — as force 1.00 with direction -2, reflecting that the material effect on freedmen was a full blockage of the intended benefit, not merely an unrealized proposal.
Summary
AB7 would have added a new article to the California Education Code establishing an admissions preference in postsecondary education for descendants of slavery. The bill passed the Assembly on June 3, 2025 (Ayes 54, Noes 17), was amended and passed the Senate on September 9, 2025 (Ayes 30, Noes 10), and was concurred in by the Assembly on September 12, 2025 (Ayes 55, Noes 18) before being enrolled and presented to the Governor.
Governor Newsom vetoed AB7 on October 13, 2025. Legislative consideration of overriding the veto was later stricken from the file on January 22, 2026, closing out action on the bill for this session without an override attempt.
The bill's sponsors included Assemblymembers Isaac Bryan, Mia Bonta, Mike Gipson, Corey Jackson, Tina McKinnor, Lori Wilson, Sade Elhawary, Ash Kalra, and LaShae Sharp-Collins, and Senators Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, Akilah Weber Pierson, and Laura Richardson.
Sources
- Postsecondary education: admissions preference: descendants of slavery. — bill text · primary · legiscan
Rated under the published impact rubric. Direction records what a measure would do if fully effective; force records how far it has actually travelled. Neither is inferred — both trace to the sources above. Think something here is wrong? Tell us and we will log the correction.