Anti-Slavery Constitutional Ballot Amendment for 2026 Bans Involuntary Servitude as Punishment

A bill to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot in 2026 to end involuntary servitude as crime punishment was reintroduced this week, as part of the reparations package. Several other reparations bills were also  this week.

Assembly Constitutional Amendment 6, authored by Assemblywoman Lori Wilson (D-Suisun City), would “prohibit slavery” in all forms. ACA 6 would also clarify that its provisions do not prohibit the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation from awarding credits to an incarcerated person who voluntarily accepts a work assignment.

In layman’s terms, ACA 6 would bring forth a proposed Constitutional amendment that would halt involuntary servitude as punishment for a crime. Should ACA 6 pass, the questions would then be asked of voters in the 2026 election.

Wilson wrote ACA 6 as a second attempt to try and alter that part of the California constitution. Previously, state voters were asked this question in 2024, as part of a larger first wave of attempted reparations legislation. However, the legislature, Governor Gavin Newsom, and California voters managed to shoot down all but a few reparation legislation attempts. Most of the 14 attempted reparations failed to become law, with the only ones making it through being little to no cost bills. Likewise, Proposition 6, which asked voters if they wanted to end involuntary servitude as a punishment for a crime, soundly failed at the ballot. In total, 7.8 million voted against the bill compared to only 6.8 million for the bill, or 53% to 47%.

Despite the numerous losses, reparations advocates vowed to bring forward more reparations bills in 2025. Several lawmakers made good on their promise, with a handful of new reparations bills already being introduced this session. This week, the California Legislative Black Caucus finally released the list of all 16 reparations bills that they would attempt to pass this year. Many of them turned out to be new versions of bills that were attempted last year, with ACA 6 being no exception.

Even with the majority of Californians in opposition to reparations, Assemblywoman Wilson said that voters would have a more nuanced view of the proposition in 2026 as it will not be as politically charged as the 2024 election. She also noted that a slight alteration to the language of the ACA 6 proposition could win over more voters.

“We’re doing this again and going back because we felt like it was a moral obligation and a righteous thing to do,” said Wilson. “What we heard from the voters during that time was a lot of misunderstandings around the bill. But when we educated on Prop. 6, they were all behind it. I didn’t talk to any person that wasn’t behind the bill once they knew what the bill did, but that took a lot of time.

“The language of Prop 6 where it said “The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall not discipline any incarcerated person for refusing a work assignment” is also changed. That was a hang up for a lot of voters who were supportive about the concept, but were concerned about this language that they can’t be disciplined and what does that mean? That is a big word to put in a constitution without any definition.”

The reincarnation of Prop 6

In addition, Wilson hopes that the recent actions of the wildfire firefighters last month in Southern California, particularly towards the prisoners who were fighting them, may also change minds.

“Now people understand the role that these incarcerated individuals had in tackling our wildfires,” added Wilson. “We have these people who are on the front line. They have bravery. They’re showing commitment.”

While ACA 6 enters the Assembly with some support, the chance of it passing both houses, being approved by Newsom, and then getting it past voters next year would be highly unlikely.

“Right now, ACA 6 is likely going to make it through the Assembly and Senate,” said Dana, a Capitol staffer to the Globe on Friday. “It’s a bit early to say for sure, but just how people here have reacted to it, it will go to Newsom.

“After that, you know, Newsom has been very choosey on what he signs now. He’s vetoed down reparations bills before, and he may not want any sort of law from potentially stopping prisoner wildfire firefighters out there. But then comes the voter hurdle in 2026, and those for this will need to convince 1 million voters that they were wrong two years beforehand. Voters don’t change their minds that fast. And on top of all that voters have shown that they want to go tougher on crime the last few cycles. 2026 probably won’t be any different unless we have another George Floyd type of situation changing the discourse temporarily.

“This is why no one is freaking out about it. We’ve gone through this before, and the people of California don’t want it.”