California lawmakers sent a bill to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk on Sept. 12 that would allow colleges and universities to give preferential treatment in admissions to students who are descendants of slaves.

Assemblyman Isaac Bryan, a Democrat from Culver City, authored AB 7 to give California’s institutions of higher education a way to address “educational inequities tied directly to slavery and its lasting effect.”

“By allowing institutions to consider an applicant’s lineage as a factor in admissions decisions, the bill aims to increase institutional access for students who research has shown still experience the greatest educational attainment and achievement disadvantages,” Bryan said in a statement to the Legislature.

The bill’s passage could tee up another clash between California and President Donald Trump, who has sought to end race-based admissions practices.

Under the California law, qualified applicants will be those who can establish direct lineage to a person who, before 1900, was subjected to American chattel slavery, which could be proved by showing the enslaved person was freed through legal or extralegal means, was classified as a fugitive from bondage, was deemed contraband, or rendered military or civic service while subject to restrictions that applied to slaves.

Slavery in the United States and its original colonies lasted roughly seven to eight generations, from 1619 to its abolition in 1865, according to History.com. Southern states also had anti-literacy laws into the 19th century, including South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Virginia, and Alabama.

California entered the Union as a free, nonslavery state in 1850.

“We barred access to institutions of higher learning, while simultaneously asking them to build the institutions of higher learning,” Bryan said in a floor speech Sept. 12.

The bill does not specify what documents would be required as proof of lineage. California State University would be tasked with establishing a process by the 2026-2027 academic year. It was not clear if that process would also apply to the University of California system or be subject to further review.

Legislative analysts say the bill could cost the universities tens of thousands of dollars each year to verify descendants of slavery and update admissions applications.

Bryan also said the bill’s focus on lineage rather than race means it does not violate Proposition 209, a constitutional amendment passed by California voters in 1996 that eliminated the consideration of race in public education admissions.

Carlsbad Citizens for Community Oversight, an organization that advocates for freedom and higher standards for public officials, opposed the measure on constitutional grounds.

California Assemblyman Isaac Bryan speaks at a press conference in Sacramento on March 11, 2025. (Assemblyman Isaac Bryan)

“The California Constitution prohibits discrimination against, or granting preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting,” the group told the Legislature. “We should not start a practice of preferential treatment based on immutable characteristics but return to merit based college admittance.”

The University of California Student Association supported the bill, claiming that it would help restore justice.

“AB 7 is a critical step toward equity and restorative justice, one that acknowledges and seeks to correct historical and systemic barriers that have impacted descendants of slavery, a lineage that has disproportionately hindered college access for African-American communities and Black students across generations due to the legacy of slavery, Jim Crow segregation laws and institutionalized racial discrimination,” the association stated to the Legislature.

Higher education is “out of reach” for many students because of factors out of their control, and these obstacles are “more pronounced for Black students,” the association said.

The Campaign for College Opportunity released a report in 2019 that found black students graduated at a lower rate than all other racial or ethnic groups in the state. The study also found that 63 percent of black community college students did not earn a degree within six years, and only 9 percent did so in four years, and almost half of black students who attended college left without a degree.

Since Prop. 209 passed, there have been various attempts to either repeal or reduce its scope.

In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that Harvard College and the University of North Carolina violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment by considering race as a criterion in admissions decisions.