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SB-553 • 2026

Prisons: clearances.

Prisons: clearances.

Crime
Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor
Cortese
Last action
2025-10-01
Official status
Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 226, Statutes of 2025.
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not specify the exact duration of short-term gate clearances or whether there are additional requirements for legal professionals to obtain these clearances.

Prison Clearances for Legal Professionals

This law allows legal professionals and support staff to apply for clearances to enter prisons and visit inmates, changes clearance names, and provides short-term clearances to certain individuals without needing long-term ones.

What This Bill Does

  • Allows legal professionals and their assistants to apply for clearances to enter state prisons.
  • Changes the names of clearances from 'short-term clearance' and 'annual program provider clearance' to 'short-term gate clearance' and 'annual gate clearance'.
  • Requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to give short-term gate clearances to specific individuals without needing long-term ones, including the Governor, cabinet members, legislators, legislative staff, and judges.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Legal professionals and their support staff who want to visit inmates in state prisons.
  • The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation which issues clearances.
  • Specific individuals like the Governor, cabinet members, legislators, legislative staff, and judges.

Terms To Know

Clearance
A permission given by a prison to enter its facilities.
Gate Clearance
A type of clearance that allows entry into state prisons for specific purposes, such as visiting inmates or providing legal services.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not specify how long the short-term gate clearances last.
  • It is unclear if there are any additional requirements for legal professionals to get these new types of clearances beyond what was previously required.
  • The effective date of this law has not been specified.

Bill History

  1. 2025-10-01 California Legislative Information

    Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 226, Statutes of 2025.

  2. 2025-10-01 California Legislative Information

    Approved by the Governor.

  3. 2025-09-23 California Legislative Information

    Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.

  4. 2025-09-13 California Legislative Information

    Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 3024.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.

  5. 2025-09-12 California Legislative Information

    In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.

  6. 2025-09-12 California Legislative Information

    Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 3393.) Ordered to the Senate.

  7. 2025-09-03 California Legislative Information

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  8. 2025-09-02 California Legislative Information

    Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

  9. 2025-08-29 California Legislative Information

    From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (August 29).

  10. 2025-07-09 California Legislative Information

    July 9 set for first hearing. Placed on APPR. suspense file.

  11. 2025-06-17 California Legislative Information

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 17). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  12. 2025-06-05 California Legislative Information

    Referred to Com. on PUB. S.

  13. 2025-05-29 California Legislative Information

    In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.

  14. 2025-05-29 California Legislative Information

    Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 38. Noes 0. Page 1327.) Ordered to the Assembly.

  15. 2025-05-27 California Legislative Information

    Ordered to special consent calendar.

  16. 2025-05-23 California Legislative Information

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

  17. 2025-05-23 California Legislative Information

    From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 1204.) (May 23).

  18. 2025-05-16 California Legislative Information

    Set for hearing May 23.

  19. 2025-04-21 California Legislative Information

    April 21 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.

  20. 2025-04-04 California Legislative Information

    Set for hearing April 21.

  21. 2025-04-01 California Legislative Information

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 612.) (April 1). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

  22. 2025-03-18 California Legislative Information

    Set for hearing April 1.

  23. 2025-03-05 California Legislative Information

    Referred to Com. on PUB. S.

  24. 2025-02-21 California Legislative Information

    From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 23.

  25. 2025-02-20 California Legislative Information

    Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print.

Official Summary Text

SB 553, Cortese.
Prisons: clearances.
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.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
Download Bill PDF