Council File: 03-0232
Title
SLAVERY ERA BUSINESS / CORPORATE INSURANCE DISCLOSURE
Subject
Motion - Many early American industries including; the insurance industry, financial industry, textile industry, tobacco industry, railroads, shipping companies, rice, sugar and many other businesses, made enormous profits from the commerce generated by the uncompensated labor of enslaved Africans.
Many Los Angeles citizens are descendants of slaves, whose ancestors were defined as private property, dehumanized divided from their families, forced to perform labor without appropriate compensation or benefits, and whose ancestors' owners profited through investments or were compensated for damages by insurers, are entitled to full disclosure. Appropriate compensation to Africans for their labor would have otherwise been bequeathed to their descendants to aid in lifting them out of a dependent, non-competitive and impoverished lifestyle.
Recently, insurance policies from the slavery era have been discovered in the archives of several insurance companies which document insurance coverage to slaveholders for damage to or death of their slaves, issued by a predecessor insurance firm. These documents provide the first evidence of ill-gotten profits from slavery, which profits in part capitalized businesses whose successors remain in existence today.
The California Insurance Code (sections 13810, 13811, 13812 and 13813) provides that insurers licensed and doing business in the state of California must provide records of slaveholder insurance policies issued by them or predecessor corporations during the slavery era.
The City should do its part to redress the wrongs stemming from slavery by requiring any entity, corporation, partnership or company doing business with the City of Los Angeles shall take any and all steps in good faith to disclose any records within their possession or knowledge relating to investments or profits from the slave industry including insurance policies issued to slaveholders that provided coverage for damage to or death of their slaves.
THEREFORE MOVE that the City Attorney be requested to prepare and present an ordinance to require a Slavery Era Business/Corporate Insurance Disclosure of all entities doing business with the City, to promote full and accurate disclosure to the public about any slavery policies sold by any companies, or profits from slavery by other industries (or their predecessors) who are doing business with the City. This ordinance would further require that each contractor with whom the City enters into a contract, whether subject to competitive bid or not, must complete an affidavit verifying that the contractor has searched any and all records of the company or any predecessor company regarding records of investments or profits from slavery or slaveholder insurance policies during the slavery era. The names of any slaves or slaveholders described in those records must be disclosed in the affidavit.
Date Received / Introduced
02/07/2003
Last Changed Date
12/15/2005
Mover
NATE HOLDEN
Second
JAN PERRY
File History
2-7-03 - This days Council session
2-7-03 - Ref to Budget and Finance Committee
2-7-03 - File to Budget and Finance Committee Clerk
5-12-03 - For ref - Transmittal from City Administrative Officer 0220-03819-0000 relative to proposed ordinance requiring Slavery Era Business and Corporate Insurance Disclosures by contractors.
5-13-03 - Ref to Budget and Finance and Personnel Committees - to Budget and Finance Committee Clerk
5-13-03 - Re-referred to Budget and Finance Committee - to Committee Clerk
5-16-03 - Budget and Finance Committee report ADOPTED to:
1. REQUEST the City Attorney prepare and present an Ordinance requiring Slavery Era Business and Corporate Insurance Disclosures by City contractors.
2. APPROVE in concept, the designation of the Office of the City Administrative Officer as the administrative agency responsible for administering the proposed ordinance.
3. REFER Recommendation No. 3 on the City Administrative Officer report dated May 9, 2003, to the Personnel Committee for consideration
5-21-03 - File to Personnel Committee Clerk
6-19-03 - For ref - Transmittal from City Attorney R03-0277 relative to ordinance adding a new Article 15 to Chapter 1 of the Los Angeles Administrative Code to provide information to the City regarding participation in or profits derived from slavery by any company doing business with the City.
6-19-03 - Ref to Personnel and Budget and Finance Committees
6-19-03 - File to Calendar Clerk per request
6-20-03 - Verbal Motion - Holden Mover 2003 / Perry - ADOPTED - HEREBY MOVE that Council ADOPT the following recommendation of the City Attorney, Special Meeting agenda (Item No. 2, Council File 03-0232) relative to regulations regarding participation in or profits derived from slavery by any company doing business with the City, SUBJECT TO THE APPROVAL OF THE MAYOR:
PRESENT and ADOPT the accompanying ORDINANCE adding a new Article 15 to Chapter 1 of the Los Angeles Administrative Code to provide information to the City regarding participation in or profits derived from slavery by any company doing business with the City of Los Angeles - Ordinance OVER ONE WEEK TO June 27, 2003 - (Personnel and Budget and Finance Committees waived consideration of the above matter).
6-27-03 - Ordinance ADOPTED adding a new Article 15 to Chapter 1 of the Los Angeles Administrative Code to provide information to the City regarding participation in or profits derived from slavery by any company doing business with the City of Los Angeles.
6-27-03 - File to Mayor for signature FORTHWITH
7-7-03 - File to Calendar Clerk
7-24-03 - File to Personnel Committee Clerk
12-13-05 - MEMORANDUM TO FILE - This memorandum notes the expiration of the accompanying Council file/contents; the file is deemed terminated (received and filed) and the subject matter contained herein is closed. No other action is forthcoming.
Pursuant to Council action of September 13, 2005, all Council files pending before the City Council, which have not been placed on a Council or Committee agenda for consideration for a period of two years or more, are deemed received and filed (CF 05-0553).
12-15-05 - File in files
2-7-03 - Ref to Budget and Finance Committee
2-7-03 - File to Budget and Finance Committee Clerk
5-12-03 - For ref - Transmittal from City Administrative Officer 0220-03819-0000 relative to proposed ordinance requiring Slavery Era Business and Corporate Insurance Disclosures by contractors.
5-13-03 - Ref to Budget and Finance and Personnel Committees - to Budget and Finance Committee Clerk
5-13-03 - Re-referred to Budget and Finance Committee - to Committee Clerk
5-16-03 - Budget and Finance Committee report ADOPTED to:
1. REQUEST the City Attorney prepare and present an Ordinance requiring Slavery Era Business and Corporate Insurance Disclosures by City contractors.
2. APPROVE in concept, the designation of the Office of the City Administrative Officer as the administrative agency responsible for administering the proposed ordinance.
3. REFER Recommendation No. 3 on the City Administrative Officer report dated May 9, 2003, to the Personnel Committee for consideration
5-21-03 - File to Personnel Committee Clerk
6-19-03 - For ref - Transmittal from City Attorney R03-0277 relative to ordinance adding a new Article 15 to Chapter 1 of the Los Angeles Administrative Code to provide information to the City regarding participation in or profits derived from slavery by any company doing business with the City.
6-19-03 - Ref to Personnel and Budget and Finance Committees
6-19-03 - File to Calendar Clerk per request
6-20-03 - Verbal Motion - Holden Mover 2003 / Perry - ADOPTED - HEREBY MOVE that Council ADOPT the following recommendation of the City Attorney, Special Meeting agenda (Item No. 2, Council File 03-0232) relative to regulations regarding participation in or profits derived from slavery by any company doing business with the City, SUBJECT TO THE APPROVAL OF THE MAYOR:
PRESENT and ADOPT the accompanying ORDINANCE adding a new Article 15 to Chapter 1 of the Los Angeles Administrative Code to provide information to the City regarding participation in or profits derived from slavery by any company doing business with the City of Los Angeles - Ordinance OVER ONE WEEK TO June 27, 2003 - (Personnel and Budget and Finance Committees waived consideration of the above matter).
6-27-03 - Ordinance ADOPTED adding a new Article 15 to Chapter 1 of the Los Angeles Administrative Code to provide information to the City regarding participation in or profits derived from slavery by any company doing business with the City of Los Angeles.
6-27-03 - File to Mayor for signature FORTHWITH
7-7-03 - File to Calendar Clerk
7-24-03 - File to Personnel Committee Clerk
12-13-05 - MEMORANDUM TO FILE - This memorandum notes the expiration of the accompanying Council file/contents; the file is deemed terminated (received and filed) and the subject matter contained herein is closed. No other action is forthcoming.
Pursuant to Council action of September 13, 2005, all Council files pending before the City Council, which have not been placed on a Council or Committee agenda for consideration for a period of two years or more, are deemed received and filed (CF 05-0553).
12-15-05 - File in files
Online Documents (Doc)
| Title | Doc Date |
|---|
| Council Action | 12/13/2005 |
| Final Ordinance No. 175346 | 08/16/2003 |
| Complete Council File | 01/01/2003 |
Council Vote Information
| Council Vote Information |
No votes were found.