Maryland, My Maryland

 From ET, Maryland Legislature Approves Bill Creating Commission to Study Slavery Reparations

The Maryland General Assembly gave final approval on April 2 to legislation authorizing the state to form a commission to study the possibility of providing reparations for slavery. Except as punishment for a crime, slavery was abolished in the United States in 1865 with the adoption of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Slavery was abolished in Maryland a year before that when the state amended its constitution to outlaw the practice. In 2007, the Maryland General Assembly and the Annapolis City Council issued official statements expressing “regret for the role Maryland played in instituting and maintaining slavery.”

The state House approved Senate Bill 587 in a 101–36 vote on April 2 after the Senate passed it by 32–13 on March 14.

The measure creates a Maryland Reparations Commission that will “study and make recommendations relating to appropriate benefits to be offered to individuals whose ancestors were enslaved in the State or were impacted by certain inequitable government policies.”

An analysis by state legislative staff does not estimate how much such benefits might cost taxpayers.

The commission is required to file a preliminary report by Jan. 1, 2027, and a final report including its findings and recommendations with the governor and the Maryland General Assembly by Nov. 1, 2027.

Among the various benefits that the commission will explore are an official apology, monetary compensation, property tax rebates, down payment assistance for purchasing residential real estate, child care, debt forgiveness, and higher education tuition payment waivers.

"or were impacted by certain inequitable government policies ” is a loophole big enough to drive the Dali under. I would like to assume that this will go the way of proposed reparations in California, where they looked at the cost and blanched, but I'm not hopeful.