AB742 requires California’s professional-licensing boards to fast-track license applications for individuals certified as descendants of American slaves.
The California State Assembly passed AB742 on September 10, 2025 by a vote of 56 to 16. We have assigned pluses to the nays because this legislation violates the founding principle that all men are created equal. By granting preferential treatment based on ancestry, it replaces equal opportunity with state-sanctioned favoritism, directly contradicting the equal-protection guarantees of the 14th Amendment. True justice cannot be achieved through racial preference or collective guilt. Instead of uniting Americans under the rule of law, AB742 perpetuates division and undermines the ideal that every citizen should be judged by merit and character, not lineage.
