Gov. Code, § 12911 · Article 1. General
Gov. Code, § 12911
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
For purposes of this chapter:
(a) “Bureau” means the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery.
(b) “Deputy director” means the Deputy Director of the Bureau for Descendants of American Slavery.
(c) “Descendants” means individuals who can establish direct lineage to a person who, prior to 1900, was subjected to American chattel slavery and meets at least one of the following criteria:
(1) Was emancipated through legal or extralegal means, including self-purchase, manumission, executive or legislative action, military service, or judicial ruling.
(2) Obtained freedom through gradual abolition statutes or constitutional amendments.
(3) Was classified as a fugitive from bondage under federal or state law.
(4) Was deemed contraband by military authorities.
(5) Rendered military or civic service while subject to legal restrictions based on ancestry historically associated with slavery.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Added by Stats. 2025, Ch. 586, Sec. 1. (SB 518) Effective January 1, 2026.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV§ionNum=12911.
- Text hash
- sha256 4185125d37755ccd6280e4c1c1fb704bb87b54ec7634e3275ab15ba0aa71ba5a
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.