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Either everyone needs TSA screening or we don't need it at all. Get rid of it. Problem solved.

Good Guy California getting rid of pay-to-win subscription for air travel.

Kinda wish they would just take aim at the entire security theater complex that airport screening has become, but that's going to be a task destined for the federal level and god knows we can't get those fucking morons in congress to agree on anything, even if it's for their own benefit.

This is on brand. Government thinks the problem is the “for pay” scheme to make the process more tolerable while forcing us into a system (TSA) that has NEVER been shown to prevent anything other than happiness. The problem isn’t with Clear, it is with TSA asshats. How about make a system that works so that no one needs Clear?

Holy fuck yes please. Clear serves literally no purpose besides laying the groundwork for the future of tiered airport security.

Everyone is beaten down by the travel process

TSA has been proven to be a sham time and time again. They’re ineffective at best. Just get rid of it already.

I also fail to see how this is really any different than paying for TSA pre check. The only main difference is skipping the security line but what difference is that really? Both are paid for services that allow the “rich” (yeah right) to get through security quicker. The real rich aren’t traveling in public transportation. Why don’t we ban private planes?

Oh and no offense to the, mostly, good people working there with the public on the front lines. They’re typically pleasant and great with the kids in my family’s experience.

TSA Precheck is significantly cheaper than Clear ($75 for 5 years, vs $189/year for Clear) for what seems like essentially the same thing, and Precheck has extra benefits like the ability to keep your shoes, belt and jacket on, and keep laptops and liquids in your carry on bag. I've got Precheck and it's always been just as fast as the Clear line, if not faster..

Why do people use Clear? What am I missing?

What's the fucking point of the TSA if you can just pay extra to bypass it?
It doesn't really seem like a stretch that a terrorist organization could come up with a little extra money per ticket to make sure their plan pays off.

If Clear is an equity problem, then the toll lanes that are going in all over California certainly are.

Toll roads would be equal. The toll lanes feel really bad.

Security Theater

Jesus, paying to cut the line could not sound anymore American capitalistic. Good on California for banning this!

So what’s the difference between this and TSA pre check? You have to pay for that too so the money privilege argument makes no sense here.

Neoliberalism y'all, TSA's equipment and all the services that go along with it are actually revenue streams invented by mega donors. The "free" market in action.

I'm all for doing a risk based analysis of people and having a higher or lower level of scrutiny based on that analysis. "Ability to pay" shouldn't be part of that analysis. Of course, given the history of problems with building such system, I also don't expect that the TSA (or any group) is going to do well building a risk based system which isn't:

Good, absolute insanity it was ever allowed in the first place. Hope more states follow the same path.

This seems like a good step. If the security bottleneck is mandated for all of us by the government, then people who don’t like it should work to improve it. Though I guess the owner class proper doesn’t really have to deal with any of it, with special processes to get to private jets.

But, this is also air travel we’re talking about. Every single step of the process to get from A to B is as enshittified and monetized as possible. Zero surprise that it’s the same with security.

Nobody (at the time of my writing) is reading the article or understand what Clear is or what this new law is doing.

• No, its not banning Clear (in all forms, only its present one)
• Clear is a private company NOT a government program. TSA Pre is a government program. Both allow a traveler to pay for extra background checks and biometric collection to allow them through the identity step of airport security faster. Neither of these skip the hand baggage and body scans.
• Nothing in the law is about TSA Pre
• No, its not removing the pathway for "pay to play" allowing those willing to spend more money to get through security faster. Its complicating it for the Clear company, but also perhaps ending a result which Clear subscribers get through even faster than today!

Important quote from the article:

"Newman said his bill, SB-1372, doesn't seek to prohibit Clear from operating its own dedicated security lines separate from other passengers."

Clear could set up their own end-to-end security (which would cost them more) but would be even faster to get through because they would bypass regular TSA security and scanning lines, which isn't what is happening today.