by Ulises Orozco, reporter
OMAHA – Nebraska Amendment 1, Remove Slavery as Punishment for Crime from Constitution Amendment (2020), is on the ballot in Nebraska as a legislative referred constitutional amendment. Nebraska State Senator, Justin Wayne, introduced the proposed constitutional amendment to remove language from the Nebraska Constitution that allows the use of slavery and involuntary servitude as criminal punishment.
“As I looked through there (Nebraska State Constitution) I saw slavery as a form of punishment for a crime and I don’t think that’s a Nebraska Value,” Wayne said.
Amendment 1 would amend Section 2 of Article 1 of the Nebraska Constitution reading “there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in this state” and would repeal “otherwise than for punishment of crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted.”
“Most people think of Nebraska being founded at a time – in 1875, as a free state, and it was for those who weren’t convicted of a crime,” Wayne said. Leased convicts helped build Nebraska’s second Capital building in 1880’s. The exemption is no longer in use, when in 1942, it was outlawed at the Federal level.
Sen. Wayne said the biggest reason why people might oppose the proposal is because of the confusion that it will affect prisons.
“It doesn’t stop prisons from allowing people to work in prisons at a reduced rate,” Wayne said.
Sen. Wayne said though they did not know the symbolisms behind the bill in 2019, when it was passed, in this time of racial tension…
“It shows that we are trying to move forward as a state,” Wayne said.
Neighboring state Colorado approved Amendment A in 2018 and Utah has it in their ballots this year to remove it as well.
