A police chief in Minnesota is vowing to “ignite a movement” to remove language in the state’s Constitution that says slavery is acceptable as criminal punishment.

St. Paul Police Chief Todd Axtell said his New Year’s resolution is to get rid of a troubling clause that has bothered him for “some time now” within Article 1, Section 2 of the Minnesota State Constitution dating back to 1858.

“There shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the state otherwise than as punishment for a crime of which the part has been convicted,” the clause reads.

Some 162 years after the state banned slavery, there’s still an exception embedded within its Constitution that allows it, Axtell said.

“Slavery is not a Minnesota value,” Axtell wrote Tuesday on Facebook. “Words matter. That’s why I’m making it my 2020 resolution to raise awareness of this clause to ignite a movement among people who care about doing what’s right — a movement to champion an amendment removing slavery from the Minnesota State Constitution.”

The original document is kept in St. Paul and is supposed to accurately reflect the state’s values of “equity, freedom and respect for all people,” Axtell said.

The chief’s vow to eradicate the clause was quickly picked up by legislators in the state, including State Rep. John Lesch, DFL-St. Paul, who plans to raise the issue as chair of the House Judiciary Committee, the Star Tribune reports.

“Just the idea of having it be out there saying that slavery is OK when it’s used as a punishment, I think that’s problematic and we need to take it out,” Lesch told the newspaper.

A constitutional amendment to remove the clause would need majority approval from both houses of legislature before being put to voters in November. If a majority of voters approved the amendment, the language would then be removed from the state’s Constitution, the Star Tribune reports.

Axtell, meanwhile, said he’s hopeful that his resolution will come to fruition.

“I’m confident we can get this done,” he told the newspaper.