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California bills · 2025-2026 Regular Session

California SB 551

Corrections and rehabilitation: state policy.

  1. Introduced
  2. In committee
  3. Passed Senate
  4. Passed House
  5. To Governor
  6. Became law

Sponsors

Cosponsors (4)

Summary

Official abstract published by the California legislature· summary

Under existing law, the Legislature finds and declares that the purpose of sentencing is public safety achieved through punishment, rehabilitation, and restorative justice, and that programs should be available for incarcerated persons, including educational, rehabilitative, and restorative justice programs that are designed to promote behavioral change and to prepare all incarcerated persons for successful reentry into the community. Existing law directs the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to maintain a mission statement consistent with these principles. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations relating to corrections and rehabilitation, including, among others, that the Legislature recognizes that life in prison can never be the same as life in a free society, and that active steps should be taken to make conditions in prison as close to normal life as possible, aside from loss of liberty, to ensure that this normalization does not lead to inhumane prison conditions. The bill would direct the department to maintain a mission statement consistent with the principles of normalization and dynamic security, and would require the department to facilitate access for community-based programs. Existing law provides that the primary objective of adult incarceration is to facilitate the successful reintegration of the individuals in the department's care back to their communities equipped with the tools to be drug-free, healthy, and employable members of society by providing education, treatment, and rehabilitative and restorative justice programs in a safe and humane environment. This bill would include that the primary objective of adult incarceration is to promote personal growth for all residents in the department's care. The bill would also provide that the department should develop training for all correctional staff on the principles of normalization and dynamic security in order to meaningfully effectuate these principles.

Text versions

Roll-call votes

State vote data last updated Oct 15, 2026, 4:19 PM.

DateVoteResultYour legislators
Sep 9, 2025
Senate		Unfinished Business SB551 Cortese et al. ConcurrencepassSet your home in California to see
Sep 3, 2025
House		SB 551 Cortese Senate Third Reading By SchultzpassSet your home in California to see
Aug 29, 2025
House		Do pass.passSet your home in California to see
Jun 17, 2025
House		Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]passSet your home in California to see
May 28, 2025
Senate		3rd Reading SB551 Cortese et al.passSet your home in California to see
Apr 22, 2025
Senate		Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]passSet your home in California to see

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