Sacramento, California - California is one step closer to banning slavery as a form of criminal punishment!

The End Slavery in California Act (ACA 8) passed out of the state Assembly on a 68-4 vote on Wednesday and is now headed to the Senate.

The legislation, introduced in February by Assemblywoman Lori D. Wilson, calls to update the portion of California's constitution relating to slavery.

Currently, Article 1, Section 6 of the constitution reads: "Slavery is prohibited. Involuntary servitude is prohibited except to punish crime."

ACA 8 seeks to amend the text to state: "Slavery is prohibited in any form," with slavery understood to include "forced labor compelled by the use or threat of physical or legal coercion."

Supporters of the change say the step is necessary to do away with slavery in the Golden State once and for all.

If ACA 8 is signed into law, California would become the latest state to close what is often referred to as the "slavery loophole," which has allowed private corporations to generate an estimated $80 billion in annual revenues off the unpaid (or barely paid) labor of incarcerated people.

This exploitation disproportionately affects Black people, who account for around 38% of the US prison population despite making up just 13% of the national population, and is a direct holdover from the era of chattel slavery.

In the 2022 midterms, Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee, and Vermont voted to remove language from their state constitutions allowing slavery in cases of criminal punishment, joining Colorado, Nebraska, and Utah.

Louisiana, which has the highest incarceration rate of any state, rejected a similar ballot measure.

Racial justice advocates are also demanding action at the federal level to eliminate the slavery loophole embedded within the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution.