California prison labor ban failed on the ballot. A new bill is bringing it back
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AN EFFORT TO END FORCED PRISON LABOR, PART II
After her proposition’s defeat at the polls last November, Assemblymember Lori Wilson, D-Suisun City, is bringing the issue of forced prison labor to the California Legislature.
On Tuesday, Assembly Bill 475, which would prohibit the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from forcing inmates to work, made its way out of the Assembly Public Safety Committee and will be heard next in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.
The bill seeks to do what Proposition 6, also authored by Wilson, would have done had it passed last year. Proposition 6 would have updated the California Constitution to ban slavery as well as “involuntary servitude.” AB 475 does not include the Constitution change, but would have the same outcome as the proposition. Wilson has also initiated a proposed constitutional amendment.
“For too long, California’s prison system has upheld the remnants of slavery through forced labor,” said Wilson in her introduction to the committee. “An injustice that disproportionately impacts not only the Black community but the Latino community as well. It also undermines the very principles of rehabilitation and dignity.”
Supporters of the bill who were previously incarcerated say that forced labor meant missing out on important rehabilitation programs and educational opportunities.
The bill, a priority for the Legislative Black Caucus, passed out of the public safety committee at the end of Tuesday’s hearing.
But it had its critics, including Assemblymember Tom Lackey, R-Palmdale, who took issue with associating the prison workforce to slavery.
“Associating accountability with slavery is inaccurate,” he said. “I think it’s unfair.”
Lackey also said he couldn’t support a bill that the public had already voted on, which it did via Proposition 6.
“To support this bill would be to dismiss the recent expressed will of the people,” he said. “Proposition 6 in 2024 was defeated 53%-46%. I’m in no way in a position to support this measure, sorry.”
Wilson responded, first disagreeing with Lackey’s assessment of the association between involuntary servitude in prisons and slavery.
“History, I think, would prove you wrong,” she said.
She also sought to the correct the record on Proposition 6 failing at the ballot, and said that the messaging of the proposition was confusing to voters, but that with clearer messaging, they would have been likely to support it.
People were confused around the language, and at the same time people were talking about Proposition 36,” she said. “That’s why it was really important to reintroduce this bill, recognizing that there wasn’t an overwhelming response of ‘no.’”
With a majority of committee members voting to send the bill forward, Wilson hopes to get a chance to address any lingering confusion as it progresses through assembly committees.
“AB 475 reflects our commitment to humane correction policies, as it promotes economic justice, and better prepares individuals for reintegration in society.”
MORE FROM PUBLIC SAFETY ...
A bill that will help implement the ambitious goals of Proposition 36 received unanimous support in the Senate Public Safety Committee on Tuesday.
State Sen. Todd Umberg, D-Santa Ana, proposed Senate Bill 28 in an effort to provide some of the resources that Proposition 36 promised. It will require that treatment courts be available to all California defendants and that those courts “follow best practices” to provide defendants charged with treatment-mandated felonies with adequate substance abuse support.
“Proposition 36 addresses the desperate need to reinstate and revitalize drug courts,” said Umberg. “Treatment courts and rehabilitation pathways — once shining examples of the promise of redemption in California — have been languishing or disappearing. Proposition 36 is a mandate to reinstate these tools to address addiction and crime related to addiction.”
Umberg authored another bill, Senate Bill 38, that would provide some funding for counties that apply for grants to create or uphold existing treatment courts. The Senate Public Safety Committee will also hear SB 38, but it has not been assigned a date yet.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I heard it, Assemblymember Lackey gave you an ‘Aye.’ It was tough, but you got there.”
- Assemblymember and Chair Nick Schultz, D-Burbank, to Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, commenting tongue in cheek Tuesday about Lackey’s less-than-enthusiastic support for a prison workforce reform bill.
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