WatchGov

California bills · 2025-2026 Regular Session

California SB 553

Prisons: clearances.

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

Sponsors

Summary

Official abstract published by the California legislature· summary

Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to conduct rehabilitative programming in a manner that meets specified requirements, including minimizing program wait times and offering a variety of program opportunities to inmates regardless of security level or sentence length. Existing law establishes various clearance levels for program providers in state prisons, including short-term clearance, annual program provider clearance, and statewide program provider clearance, as defined. Existing law establishes a procedure for a program provider to receive one of these clearances and an identification card to gain entry into the state prison and requires the department to provide state prisons with forms for program providers to obtain the clearances. This bill would expand these provisions to allow legal professionals and attorney support personnel, as defined, to apply for these clearances. The bill would revise the names of these clearances to annual gate clearances and short-term gate clearances. The bill would also require the department to, upon request, give a short-term gate clearance for any institution without the requirement to apply for a long-term gate clearance to specified individuals, including, among others, the Governor and all cabinet members, members of the Legislature and their staff, and current judges of the state.

Text versions

Roll-call votes

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

DateVoteResultYour legislators
Sep 13, 2025
Senate		Unfinished Business SB553 Cortese ConcurrencepassSet your home in California to see
Sep 12, 2025
House		SB 553 Cortese Senate Third Reading By Sharp-CollinspassSet your home in California to see
Aug 29, 2025
House		Do pass as amended.passSet your home in California to see
Jun 17, 2025
House		Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent CalendarpassSet your home in California to see
May 29, 2025
Senate		Special ConsentpassSet your home in California to see
May 23, 2025
Senate		Do passpassSet your home in California to see
Apr 21, 2025
Senate		Placed on suspense filepassSet your home in California to see
Apr 1, 2025
Senate		Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent CalendarpassSet your home in California to see

Actions