Today: Federal Video Visitation and Inmate Calling in Prisons Act of 2017, FCC Connect2Health Task Force, Alabama Inmate Calling Services Rules 

Federal Video Visitation and Inmate Calling in Prisons Act of 2017 Introduced

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) reintroduced legislation intended to help families keep in touch with incarcerated family members by preventing abuse of prison video visitation services.   The legislation would: (1) remove any doubt about the FCC’s authority to regulate video visitation and inmate calling services; (2) ensure video visitation is used only as a supplement to, and not a replacement of, in-person visitation; (3) require the FCC to establish rules governing the procurement and use of video visitation and inmate calling services to make sure rates are reasonable, fair and just in Federal and State prisons; and (4) require the Bureau of Prisons to establish guidelines to govern the agency’s purchase and use of video visitation services, as a supplement to in-person visitation.  

FCC Connect2Health Task Force Announcements

The Federal Communications Commission’s Connect2Health Task Force announced that it will convene several virtual listening sessions over several weeks, starting the week of July 31, 2017.  (The Task Force has been charged with developing recommendations on critical regulatory, policy, technical, and infrastructure issues concerning the emerging broadband-enabled health and care ecosystems.)  The sessions are intended to more efficiently facilitate targeted input on broadband health issues (including on the rural/urban gap and other digital divide issues) from non-traditional stakeholders and those outside the Washington, DC.  The virtual listening sessions will serve to supplement the FCC’s typical in-person, ex parte meeting process and will be conducted via teleconference with participants from specified stakeholder groups.  The FCC also announced that the formal comment period for GN Docket No. 16-46 will remain open until September 29, 2017, to give interested parties an opportunity to file additional comments and information following the completion of the virtual listening sessions. 

Alabama Inmate Calling Services Rules

The Alabama Public Service Commission is seeking comment on changes to its inmate calling service (ICS) rules.  The changes would eliminate several record retention and reporting requirements and revise other reporting requirements so that reports would only need to be filed on request.  The proposal would also revise the rate cap for the usage portion of a single payment call. 

Do you need a more complete summary on this development in Alabama? Click here for more information.

TMI Briefing Service subscribers see briefing dated 7/24/17.

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The Regulatory Mix, TMI’s daily blog of telecom related regulatory activities, is a snapshot of PUC, FCC, legislative, and occasionally court issues that our regulatory monitoring team uncovers each day. Depending on their significance, some items may be the subject of a TMI Briefing.