republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20232024/sb-309.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Correctional facilities: religious accommodations."
description: "Under existing law, a person sentenced to imprisonment in a state prison or in a county jail for a felony offense, as specified, may during that period of confinement be deprived of only those rights as is reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. Existing law enumerates certain civil rights of these prisoners, including the right to purchase, receive, and read newspapers, periodicals, and books accepted for distribution by the United States Post Office."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20232024"
identifier: "SB 309"
citation: "California SB 309 (20232024)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Correctional facilities", "religious accommodations"]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Cortese"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 27
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2023-02-06"
last_action: "2023-10-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/51b1995e-cdd2-433c-a9c8-e8929028c0fd"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB309"
source_hash: "d70a906be1477a549b499583f59af3bfcc07a1ec8efa65f91cd7b0344df2b49c"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California SB 309 (20232024) — Correctional facilities: religious accommodations.

Under existing law, a person sentenced to imprisonment in a state prison or in a county jail for a felony offense, as specified, may during that period of confinement be deprived of only those rights as is reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. Existing law enumerates certain civil rights of these prisoners, including the right to purchase, receive, and read newspapers, periodicals, and books accepted for distribution by the United States Post Office.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/06/23 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB309&version=20230SB30999INT)
2. **05/18/23 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB309&version=20230SB30998AMD)
3. **09/07/23 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB309&version=20230SB30997AMD)
4. **10/07/23 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB309&version=20230SB30995CHP)
5. **SB309** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB309)
6. **09/15/23 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202320240SB309&version=20230SB30996ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB309 Cortese et al. Concurrence — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Special Consent SB309 Cortese et al. — **40–0** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 309 Cortese Senate Third Reading By Reyes — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **8–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Cortese — primary (person)
- Kalra — coauthor (person)
- Reyes — principal coauthor (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2023-02-06** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2023-02-07** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 9.
- **2023-02-15** Referred to Com. on PUB S. `referral-committee`
- **2023-03-08** Set for hearing April 11.
- **2023-04-11** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 659.) (April 11). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-04-14** Set for hearing April 24.
- **2023-04-24** April 24 hearing: Placed on APPR suspense file.
- **2023-05-12** Set for hearing May 18.
- **2023-05-18** From committee: Do pass as amended. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 1164.) (May 18). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-05-18** Read second time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-05-22** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-05-26** Ordered to special consent calendar.
- **2023-05-30** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 1363.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-05-31** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2023-06-08** Referred to Com. on PUB. S. `referral-committee`
- **2023-06-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (June 27). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2023-08-23** August 23 set for first hearing. Placed on suspense file.
- **2023-09-01** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (September 1). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-09-05** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2023-09-07** Read third time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-09-07** Ordered to third reading.
- **2023-09-12** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 3258.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2023-09-12** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2023-09-13** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 2737.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2023-09-20** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2023-10-07** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2023-10-07** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 388, Statutes of 2023. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/51b1995e-cdd2-433c-a9c8-e8929028c0fd`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).