(Reuters) – The California Task Force on Reparations recommended that the government limit payments to Blacks whose ancestors lived in the United States during the 19th Century, instead of giving all Blacks money.

Local media reports that the five-member panel of the largest U.S. state decided on Tuesday to reduce the eligibility for compensation in case the state created a future reparation payment program.

This panel will make recommendations to the legislature on potential reparations by June 2023. This panel was established in June 2021 by California legislation. It first met monthly after the authorization of that year.

Prior to the vote Rev. Amos Brown, the president of San Francisco Branch of NAACP, and vice chair for the task force, advised fellow members to create an eligibility definition that takes into account political realities in America.

“Please, please. Please, I beg you tonight to take the first steps,” he told us. “We’ve got to give emergency treatment to where it is needed.”

After the national reckoning over racial injustice that followed George Floyd’s murder and others of Black Americans, the conversation about reparations has taken root.

There has been much debate about the practicality and effectiveness of its implementation. There are many opinions on whether taxpayers have the ability to afford reparations. Others question whether jurisdictions need to determine whether they can be eligible for these programs, whether based on race, ancestry, or evidence of discrimination.

California Task Force has not yet determined how recipients of reparations will need to prove their ancestry.

The first American reparation program was launched in March by Evanston, a Chicago suburb. This program pays reparation money to Black residents who suffered permanent damage due to decades of discriminatory policies.

The city’s first 16 applicants were approved by a panel in January to receive $25,000 through its reparations housing program. The money can be used for mortgage payments, home repairs or down payment.

Some other cities have established committees for reparations, such as Providence in Rhode Island and Chicago.