Bill Text: NY A02164 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Relates to providing voice communication services to incarcerated individuals in state correctional facilities at no cost.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 27-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-05-30 - reported referred to ways and means [A02164 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A02164-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          2164

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 23, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M. of A. EPSTEIN, SIMON, SEAWRIGHT, KELLES, GONZALEZ-RO-
          JAS, FORREST, JACKSON, DAVILA, GIBBS -- read once and referred to  the
          Committee on Correction

        AN  ACT  to  amend  the  correction  law, in relation to providing voice
          communication services to incarcerated individuals  at no cost

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Section  623 of the correction law, as amended by chapter
     2  322 of the laws of 2021, is amended to read as follows:
     3    §  623.  [Incarcerated  individual  telephone]   Voice   communication
     4  services  for  incarcerated  individuals.  1. [Telephone] Voice communi-
     5  cation services contracts for incarcerated individuals in state  correc-
     6  tional  facilities shall be subject to the procurement provisions as set
     7  forth in article eleven of the state  finance  law  [provided,  however,
     8  that  when  determining  the  best  value of such telephone service, the
     9  lowest possible cost to the telephone user shall be emphasized].
    10    2. [The department shall make available either a "prepaid" or "collect
    11  call" system, or a combination thereof, for telephone service. Under the
    12  "prepaid" system, funds may be deposited into an account in order to pay
    13  for station-to-station calls, provided that nothing in this  subdivision
    14  shall  require the department to provide or administer a prepaid system.
    15  Under a "collect call" system, call recipients are billed for  the  cost
    16  of  an  accepted telephone call initiated by an incarcerated individual.
    17  Under such "collect call" system, the provider of incarcerated  individ-
    18  ual  telephone  service,  as an additional means of payment, must permit
    19  the recipient of incarcerated individual calls to establish  an  account
    20  with  such  provider  in  order to deposit funds to pay for such collect
    21  calls in advance] State and local agencies charged  with  the  operation
    22  and  management  of state and local correctional facilities and juvenile
    23  detention facilities shall provide persons in their custody and confined
    24  in a correctional or detention facility with voice communication service

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD05082-01-3
        A. 2164                             2

     1  at a minimum of ninety minutes per day and ensure sufficient infrastruc-
     2  ture to meet this baseline. The commissioner may supplement voice commu-
     3  nication service with other advanced communication services,  including,
     4  but not limited to, video communication and electronic mail services. To
     5  the  extent  that  the  commissioner  provides  such voice communication
     6  service or any other advanced communication service, each  such  service
     7  shall be provided free of charge to the person initiating and the person
     8  receiving the communication.
     9    3.  [The  department  shall not accept or receive revenue in excess of
    10  its reasonable operating cost for establishing  and  administering  such
    11  telephone  system  services  as  provided in subdivisions one and two of
    12  this section] No state or local agency shall receive  revenue  from  the
    13  provision  of  voice  communication  services or any other communication
    14  services to any person confined in a  state  or  local  correctional  or
    15  detention facility.
    16    4.  Nothing  in  this  section shall be construed to limit, replace or
    17  prevent in-person visitation between persons  confined  in  a  state  or
    18  local  correctional  or detention facility and relatives, friends or any
    19  other persons approved to visit such person.
    20    5. The department shall establish rules  and  regulations  or  depart-
    21  mental procedures to ensure that any [incarcerated individual phone call
    22  system] voice communication services for incarcerated individuals estab-
    23  lished by this section provides reasonable security measures to preserve
    24  the safety and security of each correctional facility, all staff and all
    25  persons  outside  a  facility  who  may  receive incarcerated individual
    26  [phone calls] voice communication services for incarcerated individuals.
    27    § 2. This act shall take effect April 1, 2024 and shall apply  to  any
    28  new or renewal contract for voice communication services for incarcerat-
    29  ed  individuals or other advanced communication services entered into on
    30  or after such date and provided further that any new or renewal contract
    31  for voice communication services for incarcerated individuals  or  other
    32  advanced  communication  services  entered  into  prior to April 1, 2024
    33  shall not run past March 31, 2024.