- 26 August 2026: The California Legislature passed AB 2599, Slavery: corporate disclosures, which would require certain large companies to investigate and publicly disclose historical corporate links to slavery. The bill was formally presented to Governor Gavin Newsom on 3 September 2026 and is awaiting his decision.
- The bill goes beyond requiring companies to disclose known links. Covered companies would have to search their own records and those of specified related entities, certify that they exercised due diligence in conducting that search, and submit an affidavit under penalty of perjury.
- The bill specifically identifies industries including textiles, tobacco, cotton, sugar, railroads, shipping, insurance and financial services as examples of sectors historically linked to profits from enslaved labour. The requirements are not limited to those industries.
Company scope
- The bill would apply to businesses doing business in California with more than USD 100 million in annual worldwide gross receipts, where the company or a predecessor existed on or before 31 December 1964.
- “Related entities” include parent companies and subsidiaries doing business in California, as well as predecessors in interest, regardless of whether the predecessor itself did business in California.
Geographic scope of slavery
- The requirements are not limited to slavery-related activity that occurred in California. Covered companies must also search records of specified related and predecessor entities, including predecessors that did not operate in California.
- The bill specifically refers to transactions that financially benefited or otherwise profited from slavery “in the United States.” This suggests that the bill does not establish a general obligation to disclose historical links to slavery occurring outside the US, although the records search itself can extend to related and predecessor entities outside California.
Disclosure and due diligence requirements
- Covered companies must search records in their own and related entities’ possession, control and knowledge for evidence that they:
- bought or sold enslaved people
- used enslaved people as collateral
- provided loans to purchase enslaved people
- insured enslaved people or related transactions
- provided other services that facilitated those transactions.
- Affidavits must include the names of enslaved people and slaveholders identified in company records, together with evidence of transactions that financially benefited or otherwise profited from slavery in the US.
- Where applicable, companies must provide records dating from 1849 onwards, including records of insurance policies, the purchase or sale of enslaved people, the use of enslaved people as collateral, and loans used to purchase enslaved people.
- Companies must provide an index describing the records submitted and certify that they exercised due diligence in searching all relevant records in their own and related entities’ possession.
- The affidavit must be submitted under penalty of perjury. The bill expressly states that the affidavit and certification requirements expand the application of the crime of perjury. Companies must also submit an updated affidavit if they later discover new reportable information.
- Covered companies bidding for or renewing California state contracts worth USD 100,000 or more would have to certify, under penalty of perjury, that they have submitted the required affidavit.
Public disclosure
- The California Civil Rights Department would establish a public digital database containing company affidavits and underlying records.
- The database would include estimated value or revenue associated with slavery-related transactions, including the sale of enslaved people, insurance claims and goods produced using recorded enslaved labour.
- Affidavits, reports and related data would remain publicly available indefinitely.
Implementation
- The requirements would only become operative if the California Legislature appropriates funding. The Civil Rights Department would then have one year to establish the public database.
- For companies already doing business in California on 1 January 2028, the first disclosure would be due by 15 January 2029, or by 15 January of the year following development of the database, whichever is later.