Financial services

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 2599, the Truth in Disclosure Act, making California the first state to require large companies to disclose whether they or their corporate predecessors profited from chattel slavery. Authored by Assemblymember Isaac Bryan and backed by the California Legislative Black Caucus, the law applies to companies with more than $100 million in annual worldwide gross receipts that existed, or had a predecessor that existed, on or before December 1964. Sworn disclosures, subject to perjury penalties, must be filed by January 15, 2029, and will be posted in a searchable public database maintained by the state's Civil Rights Department.

Supporters say the measure, likely to affect banks, insurers, and agricultural firms, will help researchers and advocates trace links between modern corporate wealth and the slave economy. Some insurers opposed the bill, citing an existing 2000 disclosure law. The measure follows California's 2023 reparations task force report, which recommended over 100 remedies and estimated hundreds of billions owed to Black residents, though broader reparations legislation has stalled.

A Phoenix woman, Agatha Milot, discovered she had roughly $20,000 in student loans and grants taken out in her name at the University of Phoenix, a school she never attended. Despite filing a police report, freezing her credit, and notifying both the school and loan servicer MOHELA, she has struggled for two years to get the fraudulent loans discharged, damaging her credit in the process.

Her case reflects a growing problem federal officials call "ghost student" fraud, in which organized groups use stolen identities to enroll in classes and collect federal financial aid with no intention of attending or repaying. The Department of Education's Office of Inspector General says more than $350 million in such fraud has been adjudicated over five years, with actual losses likely higher. Some schools, like Excelsior University, have adopted multi-factor authentication and identity verification to block bad actors. Congress is considering the No Aid for Ghost Students Act of 2026, which would mandate a federal identity-fraud detection system for FAFSA applicants; it has passed the House and awaits Senate action.