California will not consider amending its constitution to eliminate indentured servitude as a possible punishment for crime after Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration predicted that it could cost the state billions of dollars to pay minimum wage to prison inmates.
Democratic Sen. Sydney Kamlager said Thursday that she ran out of time and supporters after the measure barring involuntary work without pay last week fell seven votes short of the two-thirds margin it needed in the Senate.
