Already behind schedule, a New York state commission studying the prospect of paying reparations to atone for the evils of slavery is asking for more time and money so it can keep studying the subject. 

The commission, which was given a one-year timeframe to complete its work, held its first meeting in July 2024 and has another meeting scheduled for February 15. The panel is supposed to study the impacts of slavery and discrimination and then present a series of proposals for the governor and legislature to consider.

However, the panel’s members now say they need more time and more money — about $5 million — to be able to continue their work. Governor Hochul added a line in her budget plan unveiled last week that says, “The State is providing $5 million in funding to the Commission to continue its work in Fiscal Year 2026.”

The commission’s president, Seanelle Hawkins, told Spectrum News 1 that its work is only beginning. She blamed the delays on the state’s hiring process and said there are still positions on the board that have yet to be filled.

“In order to represent a quality report, we will need more time, and most importantly, we will need the staff to do the day-to-day work,” Ms. Hawkins said. “There are a lot of things that are expected of the commission and we want to make sure that what we contribute back to the Legislature is quality.”

She added the commission will have to keep working for “at least an additional six months,” and it “may take us more than that, but we certainly want to make sure that we have the time to do so.”

The legislation establishing the nine-member panel states that its members shall not receive compensation for their work. It did say they will be reimbursed for “actual and necessary” expenses related to their work. Members of the commission can be reimbursed for travel expenses for meetings related to the commission’s work. 

It is not clear how much money the commission spent so far. It did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication. If Ms. Hochul’s budget plan is approved with the additional $5 million for the commission, it would bring the total amount allocated to the project to $10 million. 

Supporters of the commission appear to be willing to accommodate the delays. A state senator, James Sanders, who sponsored the law creating the panel, told Spectrum News that a similar commission in California spent two years studying reparations and “for us to do ours in a year is a bit presumptuous.”

Whether all additional $5 million would be approved remains to be seen. Assemblywoman Michaelle Solages told Spectrum News she would need to see details on how much money the commission has spent before approving another $5 million, but expressed support for granting a time extension.

In June 2023, a reparations task force in California released a report with 115 recommendations as to how the state — which entered the union as a free state in 1850 and never legally allowed slavery — could compensate for the past. The panel recommended the state issue a formal apology and implement a series of reforms, and it also recommended a process for handing out cash payments to descendants of slaves. 

More than a year later, in September 2024, Governor Newsom issued a formal apology for “the role we played in promoting, facilitating, and permitting the institution of slavery, as well as its enduring legacy of persistent racial disparities.” Mr. Newsom also signed a series of reforms but stopped short of providing monetary payments.