California and Nevada may ban forced prison labor, servitude

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Lawmakers in Nevada and California are advancing legislation to remove “involuntary servitude” from their states’ constitutions, a move that follows four states’ bans on forced labor that passed in ballot measures last fall. Democrats in Congress have yet to pass federal legislation changing the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which states: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” If the latest attempt wins approval in Congress, the constitutional amendment must be ratified by three-fourths of U.S. states. Meanwhile in Nevada, lawmakers voted unanimously Tuesday to move a measure that would change the state Constitution to ban slavery and involuntary servitude, which is prohibited “otherwise than in the punishment for crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.” That puts the measure one step closer to appearing on the 2024 ballot in Nevada, after it passed unanimously during the 2021 Legislature session. The ACLU of Nevada is considering litigation related to the pay and working conditions of incarcerated women at prison firefighting camps — and the measure could protect people from “harmful, deadly conditions without being forced to labor for our sake,” said Lilith Baran, the group’s policy manager.