State ban sought on forced prison labor
>> Lawmakers in Nevada and California are advancing legislation to remove involuntary servitude from their state constitutions, a move that follows four states' bans on forced labor in ballot measures that passed last fall.
The goal of these proposals is to remove exceptions from the state constitutions that allow forced labor as criminal punishment. The efforts come amid a growing push among some states to scrub outdated, centuryold language from their state constitutions. Last fall, voters approved similar ballot measures in Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee and Vermont.
About a dozen states are pushing this year to get rid of the involuntary servitude exceptions, according to the Abolish Slavery National Network. Some advocates said this has major legal implications today, particularly in litigation related to prison labor pay and conditions.
It's not uncommon for prisoners in California, Nevada and other states to be paid less than $1 an hour to fight fires, clean prison cells, make license plates or do yardwork at cemeteries.
Samuel Brown, who was formerly incarcerated with a life sentence, helped author an anti-involuntary servitude amendment in California last year. He said incarcerated people can be forced to do work that is unsafe and puts their health at risk. Even more, he described how terrified he was when he had to disinfect jail cells after someone tested positive for COVID-19.
Brown said the amendment that is being reintroduced this year is long overdue.
“We have an opportunity to stamp it out once and for all. We're not going to stop until we get it done,” he said.
In California, more than 40 supporters of the measure gathered Wednesday outside the state Capitol, where lawmakers and formerly incarcerated people talked about the impacts of forced labor.
Assemblywoman Lori Wilson, a Democrat representing part of Solano County, is introducing this year's proposed amendment, hoping to have a different outcome than a failed attempt last year to pass similar legislation in the state. The Senate rejected it after Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration warned that if inmates were paid the $15-per-hour minimum wage, it could cost taxpayers $1.5 billion a year.
“Slavery is wrong in all its forms, and California, of all states, should be clear in denouncing that in its constitution,” said Wilson, who chairs the California Legislative Black Caucus.
If the proposed amendment passes in the California Legislature this year by a two-thirds vote, voters would decide in November 2024 whether to adopt it. Wilson said she hopes conversations she has had with lawmakers about the economic impact of this amendment will help it get passed this year in the Legislature.
Meanwhile in Nevada, lawmakers voted unanimously Tuesday to move a similar measure out of a committee and to the state Assembly floor, after more than a dozen people testified in favor of the resolution.