The last anti-slavery campaign

Chattel slavery may have ended more than 150 years ago, but America’s prison labor system is a modern-day version of the heinous practice. Bloomberg’s Bryce Covert explains how people incarcerated at Louisiana’s maximum security prison in Angola, and others across the country, are forced to toil away in fields for little or no pay and lack basic workplace protections:

Thanks to the 13th Amendment and subsequent legislation and court rulings, people in prison lack benefits and protections most Americans take for granted. The minimum wage doesn’t apply. There’s no workers’ compensation for someone who gets injured or sick. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has no jurisdiction to ensure safe working conditions, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission can’t enforce antidiscrimination laws. 

There are efforts in some states to eliminate forced labor for people in prison. Unfortunately, advocates are struggling to make progress in Louisiana. 

Last year, a measure to get the issue on the ballot sailed unanimously through the state House. But by the time it got to the state Senate, lawmakers balked, worried about “unintended consequences”—meaning lost revenue, says Curtis Davis, executive director of the advocacy group Decarcerate Louisiana and author of Slave State: Evidence of Apartheid in America. Too many lawmakers, according to Davis, “say that we can’t afford to see what Louisiana looks like without codified slavery.”

Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming said he will not allow Bank of America to be a fiscal agent for the state because of “evidence” of discrimination against customers and potential customers of religious organizations and gun manufacturers. The Times Picayune | Baton Rouge Advocate’s Alyse Pfeil reports:  

Bank of America spokesperson Bill Halldin called Fleming’s claims “factually incorrect.””Given that we provide services to more than 100,000 non-profits affiliated with religious organizations, it’s wrong to think that religious beliefs would ever be a factor in any account-closing decisions,” he said, adding that political views are also a non-factor. Halldin also said Bank of America uses a “risk-based review process” before onboarding any potential client.

Fleming also has issues with the bank’s environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) measurements, which take into account an organization’s commitment to combating climate change, among other things. Earlier this year Pew’s Liz Farmer explained how attacks on ESG policies could be contrary to lawmakers’ fiduciary duty to their states. 

State gasoline taxes are losing value due to inflation, vehicles becoming more fuel efficient and the advent of electric vehicles. States, including Louisiana, are compensating by charging drivers of EVs an annual fee or by the number of miles driven. Governing’s Girard Miller explains strategies local governments can use to fund roads as revenue from fuel taxes shrink. 

Even if local governments ultimately accept a statewide revenue collection system with formulaic allocations to localities, it’s likely that many of them will still find it necessary to levy their own separate, additional user fees based on mileage driven within their jurisdictions. It’s not unlike the collection of voter-approved “piggyback” sales taxes that are commonplace in many local jurisdictions. 

The high cost of phone and video calls from jails and prisons has created barriers for communicating with incarcerated people. Verite News’ Bobbi-Jeanne Misick explains how New Orleans is reducing these rates:

Beginning in late September the Sheriff’s Office will begin offering 15 free minutes of audio call time per day. In addition, the Sheriff’s Office expects to receive 1,400 tablet devices for detainees in the city jail next month, an objective that Sheriff Susan Hutson has been working toward since at least last year. And under a deal with a new telecommunications contractor, Smart Communications, each detainee will be allowed one free 20-minute video call per week.

A new rule from the Federal Communications Commission is also capping these costs. 

20.93 cents – Louisiana’s gas tax rate per gallon, which ranks 43rd nationally. (Source: Tax Foundation)