Last year, voters in Vermont, Oregon, Tennessee and Alabama approved historic ballot measures that removed slavery and involuntary servitude as punishment for crime from their state constitutions, which could lead to limitations on forced prison labor. They joined a growing list of states that passed similar initiatives in recent years, including Nebraska, Utah and Colorado.
But in California, voters never got the chance.
Several months before the Nov. 8 election, lawmakers killed a proposal that would have asked voters to eliminate an exception in the state Constitution that allows for involuntary servitude for criminal punishment.
The emotional debate pitted arguments that compared prison labor to slavery against concerns that eliminating work requirements would undermine rehabilitation and jeopardize restitution payments to crime victims. Division between moderate Democrats and progressives, along with the price tag associated with the plan, eventually tanked the legislation.
But now Democrats are trying again, hoping that passage last year in other states could help sway more support in California. Assembly Constitutional Amendment 8 — known as the “End Slavery in California Act” — would “prohibit slavery in any form,” which includes “forced labor compelled by the use or threat of physical or legal coercion.”
California’s Constitution mirrors the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits slavery, but allows for involuntary servitude as punishment for...
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