The Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland said Thursday its members plan to support legislation to create a commission to study reparations, including “financial restitution” and ways to support vulnerable communities.

The announcement comes on the heels of the start of the 2025 Maryland General Assembly session. The headline of the legislative session so far has been the $3 billion budget gap lawmakers must address to prevent a financial crisis from materializing.

Lawmakers are also urgently working to find ways to finance billions of dollars in potential legal liabilities that the state could incur under the Child Victim’s Act of 2023. Concern is escalating in Annapolis after a Spotlight on Maryland report showed lawyers across the country are quietly building numerous child sex abuse cases against state and local municipalities in Maryland.

FOX45 asked Gov. Wes Moore on Saturday if he supports the Legislative Black Caucus’ desire to prioritize reparations. The governor was in West Baltimore participating in a service project affiliated with his newly launched Maryland Service Corps initiative.

“We are going to work with the Maryland General Assembly on a whole collection of different issues,” Moore said. “Our focus is economic advancement; our focus is economic growth. It’s making sure we can really meet people where they are, make life more affordable.”

He added, “Making sure we are funding things that are actually both working and sustainable, and making sure we can do reforms to the tax code that’s going to give working Marylanders and middle-class Marylanders a well-deserved tax cut inside this moment.”

Rev. P.M. Smith of Huber Memorial Church dismissed the governor’s response.

“His nonanswer is his standard answer,” Smith said. “It’s the standard ask-answer of any politician. They never give you a ‘yes.’ They never give you a ‘no.’ They never even give you a ‘maybe.’”

“He will make history, but he won’t make a difference because he is stuck on the policies of the party and not advancing the real interest of the people that voted for him,” Smith added.

The East Baltimore minister told FOX45 that he believes reparations could distract his community from achieving long-term economic success.

“For me, it’s not about reparations; it’s about preparation. I have an obligation as a baby boomer to prepare my children and grandchildren for success in the world they’re living in regardless of what they encounter,” Smith said. “The civil rights issue of this century and this generation, for our children, is education.”

Given Annapolis’s fiscal challenges, it is unclear how the state would fund “financial restitution” in the form of reparations. A 2023 law required Maryland counties to reinvest cannabis tax revenue through local Community Reinvestment and Repair commissions. Baltimore City chose to create a charter-mandated fund for its cannabis reinvestment called the Community Reinvestment and Reparations Fund despite objection from its equity office.

“The commission will carefully examine and evaluate a range of reparations that will not only consider financial restitution but will also explore strategies to support and uplift vulnerable communities that continue to suffer the lingering and invasive effects of discriminatory practices rooted in systematic racism,” Del. Aletheia McCaskill, a Baltimore County Democrat, said Thursday.

A bill to establish a reparations commission failed last year in the General Assembly. The purpose of the commission would have been to “develop and administer a program to provide compensatory benefits to the descendants of individuals enslaved in the state.”

“We will confront our shared history to move closer to building a Maryland that is truly that truly lives up to its promise of fairness and equality,” McCaskill said.

FOX45 requested an interview with Legislative Black Caucus leaders, including McCaskill. Requests were not acknowledged.

The debate over reparations elevated nationally following George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis in 2020. In response, Colorado, New York and Massachusetts established reparation groups.

State records show the California Legislative Black Caucus successfully passed a sweeping 14-bill package in 2024 based on the findings of a two-year study conducted by the California Reparation Task Force. California lawmakers did not bring a bill to a vote that would have given “down payments” to eligible African American residents.

According to the study group’s recommendation, a 60-year-old eligible California resident would have received an estimated $1.2 million reparation payment if the submitted formula had become law.

Spotlight on Maryland is a partnership between FOX45 and The Baltimore Sun. Have a news tip? Contact Gary Collins at gmcollins@sbgtv.com or Julian Baron at jtbaron@sbgtv.com.