Bill Commons

CA SB 498

Status unknown

Incarcerated persons: communications.

California · 2025-2026 Regular Session · upper

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Quick answers

Did CA SB 498 pass?

The current status of CA SB 498 is not known from the official record. Latest recorded action (2026-08-13): August 13 hearing: Held in committee and under submission.

What is CA SB 498 about?

Under existing law, a person sentenced to imprisonment in state prison or in a county jail for a felony offense, as specified, may, during that period of confinement, be deprived only of those rights as are reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide inmates with accessible, functional voice communication services free of charge to the person initiating and the person receiving the communication. This bill would additionally require the department to provide inmates electronic messaging services as described above. The bill would prohibit staff at a department facility, if an incarcerated individual is authorized to possess and use a tablet or other device for voice communications, from disconnecting any communications conducted by the individual on the device based solely on the duration of the call.

Who sponsors CA SB 498?

Becker is the primary sponsor of CA SB 498, joined by 4 cosponsors.

Description

Under existing law, a person sentenced to imprisonment in state prison or in a county jail for a felony offense, as specified, may, during that period of confinement, be deprived only of those rights as are reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide inmates with accessible, functional voice communication services free of charge to the person initiating and the person receiving the communication. This bill would additionally require the department to provide inmates electronic messaging services as described above. The bill would prohibit staff at a department facility, if an incarcerated individual is authorized to possess and use a tablet or other device for voice communications, from disconnecting any communications conducted by the individual on the device based solely on the duration of the call.

Introduced
2025-02-19
Latest action
2026-08-13 — August 13 hearing: Held in committee and under submission.
Bill type
bill
Last updated
—

Subjects

Sponsors

  • Beckerauthor
  • Bontacoauthor
  • Quirk-Silvacoauthor
  • Schultzcoauthor
  • Sharp-Collinscoauthor

Committees

Not provided by source.

Action timeline

Newest first

  1. 2026-08-13

    August 13 hearing: Held in committee and under submission.

  2. 2026-06-24

    June 24 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.

  3. 2026-06-09

    Coauthors revised.

  4. 2026-06-09

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (June 9). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee

  5. 2026-04-06

    From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on PUB. S.

    amendment-passage,committee-passage,reading-1,reading-2,referral-committee

  6. 2025-06-16

    Referred to Com. on PUB. S.

    referral-committee

  7. 2025-06-05

    In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk.

    reading-1

  8. 2025-06-04

    Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1504.) Ordered to the Assembly.

    passage,reading-1,reading-3

  9. 2025-05-27

    Read second time. Ordered to third reading.

    reading-1,reading-2,reading-3

  10. 2025-05-23

    From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 1202.) (May 23).

    amendment-passage,committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable

  11. 2025-05-23

    Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading.

    amendment-passage,reading-1,reading-2

  12. 2025-05-16

    Set for hearing May 23.

  13. 2025-04-07

    April 7 hearing: Placed on APPR. suspense file.

  14. 2025-03-28

    Set for hearing April 7.

  15. 2025-03-25

    From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 533.) (March 25). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.

    committee-passage,committee-passage-favorable,referral-committee

  16. 2025-03-07

    Set for hearing March 25.

  17. 2025-02-26

    Referred to Com. on PUB. S.

    referral-committee

  18. 2025-02-20

    From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 22.

  19. 2025-02-19

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

    introduction,reading-1,referral-committee

Versions

  • 02/19/25 - Introduced — 2025-02-19Compare
  • 05/23/25 - Amended Senate — 2025-05-23Compare
  • 04/06/26 - Amended Assembly — 2026-04-06Compare
  • SB498Compare
  • (document, no version)Compare

Documents

Votes

  • Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]

    2025-03-25 · pass · 5-0

    Member-level votes (6)
    • Arreguín: yes
    • Caballero: yes
    • Pérez: yes
    • Gonzalez: yes
    • Wiener: yes
    • Seyarto: other

  • Placed on suspense file

    2025-04-07 · pass · 7-0

    Member-level votes (7)
    • Richardson: yes
    • Cabaldon: yes
    • Grayson: yes
    • Caballero: yes
    • Seyarto: yes
    • Wahab: yes
    • Dahle: yes

  • Do pass as amended

    2025-05-23 · pass · 6-0

    Member-level votes (7)
    • Caballero: yes
    • Seyarto: yes
    • Wahab: yes
    • Cabaldon: yes
    • Richardson: yes
    • Grayson: yes
    • Dahle: other

  • 3rd Reading

    2025-06-04 · pass · 39-0

    Member-level votes (40)
    • Durazo: yes
    • Menjivar: yes
    • Limón: yes
    • Rubio: yes
    • Pérez: yes
    • Padilla: yes
    • Richardson: yes
    • Smallwood-Cuevas: yes
    • Weber Pierson: yes
    • Wahab: yes
    • Seyarto: yes
    • Umberg: yes
    • Hurtado: yes
    • Grove: yes
    • Niello: yes
    • Wiener: yes
    • Cortese: yes
    • Allen: yes
    • Cervantes: yes
    • Jones: yes
    • McGuire: yes
    • Stern: yes
    • Arreguín: yes
    • Blakespear: yes
    • Alvarado-Gil: yes
    • Laird: yes
    • Archuleta: yes
    • McNerney: yes
    • Cabaldon: yes
    • Gonzalez: yes
    • Caballero: yes
    • Valladares: yes
    • Strickland: yes
    • Grayson: yes
    • Becker: yes
    • Ochoa Bogh: yes
    • Choi: yes
    • Ashby: yes
    • Dahle: yes
    • Reyes: other

  • Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations]

    2026-06-09 · pass · 7-0

    Member-level votes (9)
    • Nguyen: yes
    • Hart: yes
    • Schultz: yes
    • Sharp-Collins: yes
    • Harabedian: yes
    • Haney: yes
    • Ramos: yes
    • Alanis: other
    • Lackey: other

Related bills

No related bills recorded for this bill.

Official source

http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260SB498

Attribution

Data from openstates_api_sync, retrieved 2026-10-28T05:47:58.726883Z

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