Parole: minimum eligible date.

The entire provision amending Penal Code Section 6400 (prison visitation regulations) was deleted. This had been a technical, nonsubstantive change requiring the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to recognize the value of inmate visitation in its regulations.

Section 3046(d) now requires the Board of Parole Hearings to consider any reports filed by the probation officer when evaluating a parole request, expanding the range of documents the board must review beyond statements from judges, district attorneys, and sheriffs.

Gender-neutral language was applied throughout, replacing 'he or she has' with 'they have' in multiple provisions.

The fiscal committee designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' meaning the bill now requires review by the Assembly Fiscal Committee before passage.

A new Section 1 was added amending Penal Code Section 3046, which governs minimum terms for life sentence inmates before parole eligibility. The original visitation fix (Section 6400) was renumbered to Section 2.

The bill's subject expanded from solely prison visitation regulations to also cover parole eligibility for life sentence inmates, as reflected in the new short title: 'Prisons: visitation. Parole: minimum eligible date.'

New subdivision (e) of Section 3046 requires the Secretary of CDCR to apply all applicable credits under Article I, Section 32(b) of the California Constitution (good behavior and approved rehabilitative or educational achievements) to reduce the minimum term or minimum period of confinement for persons imprisoned under one or more life sentences.

The fiscal committee vote changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the amended bill now has a fiscal impact, likely due to potential earlier parole releases reducing state incarceration costs.