The New York State Senate

 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   2164
 
                        2023-2024 Regular Sessions
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                             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:
 
   Section  1.  Section  623 of the correction law, as amended by chapter
 322 of the laws of 2021, is amended to read as follows:
   §  623.  [Incarcerated  individual  telephone]   VOICE   COMMUNICATION
 services  FOR  INCARCERATED  INDIVIDUALS.  1. [Telephone] VOICE COMMUNI-
 CATION services contracts for incarcerated individuals in state  correc-
 tional  facilities shall be subject to the procurement provisions as set
 forth in article eleven of the state  finance  law  [provided,  however,
 that  when  determining  the  best  value of such telephone service, the
 lowest possible cost to the telephone user shall be emphasized].
   2. [The department shall make available either a "prepaid" or "collect
 call" system, or a combination thereof, for telephone service. Under the
 "prepaid" system, funds may be deposited into an account in order to pay
 for station-to-station calls, provided that nothing in this  subdivision
 shall  require the department to provide or administer a prepaid system.
 Under a "collect call" system, call recipients are billed for  the  cost
 of  an  accepted telephone call initiated by an incarcerated individual.
 Under such "collect call" system, the provider of incarcerated  individ-
 ual  telephone  service,  as an additional means of payment, must permit
 the recipient of incarcerated individual calls to establish  an  account
 with  such  provider  in  order to deposit funds to pay for such collect
 calls in advance] STATE AND LOCAL AGENCIES CHARGED  WITH  THE  OPERATION
 AND  MANAGEMENT  OF STATE AND LOCAL CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES AND JUVENILE
 DETENTION FACILITIES SHALL PROVIDE PERSONS IN THEIR CUSTODY AND CONFINED
 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
 
 AT A MINIMUM OF NINETY MINUTES PER DAY AND ENSURE SUFFICIENT INFRASTRUC-
 TURE TO MEET THIS BASELINE. THE COMMISSIONER MAY SUPPLEMENT VOICE COMMU-
 NICATION SERVICE WITH OTHER ADVANCED COMMUNICATION SERVICES,  INCLUDING,
 BUT NOT LIMITED TO, VIDEO COMMUNICATION AND ELECTRONIC MAIL SERVICES. TO
 THE  EXTENT  THAT  THE  COMMISSIONER  PROVIDES  SUCH VOICE COMMUNICATION
 SERVICE OR ANY OTHER ADVANCED COMMUNICATION SERVICE, EACH  SUCH  SERVICE
 SHALL BE PROVIDED FREE OF CHARGE TO THE PERSON INITIATING AND THE PERSON
 RECEIVING THE COMMUNICATION.
   3.  [The  department  shall not accept or receive revenue in excess of
 its reasonable operating cost for establishing  and  administering  such
 telephone  system  services  as  provided in subdivisions one and two of
 this section] NO STATE OR LOCAL AGENCY SHALL RECEIVE  REVENUE  FROM  THE
 PROVISION  OF  VOICE  COMMUNICATION  SERVICES OR ANY OTHER COMMUNICATION
 SERVICES TO ANY PERSON CONFINED IN A  STATE  OR  LOCAL  CORRECTIONAL  OR
 DETENTION FACILITY.
   4.  NOTHING  IN  THIS  SECTION SHALL BE CONSTRUED TO LIMIT, REPLACE OR
 PREVENT IN-PERSON VISITATION BETWEEN PERSONS  CONFINED  IN  A  STATE  OR
 LOCAL  CORRECTIONAL  OR DETENTION FACILITY AND RELATIVES, FRIENDS OR ANY
 OTHER PERSONS APPROVED TO VISIT SUCH PERSON.
   5. The department shall establish rules  and  regulations  or  depart-
 mental procedures to ensure that any [incarcerated individual phone call
 system] VOICE COMMUNICATION SERVICES FOR INCARCERATED INDIVIDUALS estab-
 lished by this section provides reasonable security measures to preserve
 the safety and security of each correctional facility, all staff and all
 persons  outside  a  facility  who  may  receive incarcerated individual
 [phone calls] VOICE COMMUNICATION SERVICES FOR INCARCERATED INDIVIDUALS.
   § 2. This act shall take effect April 1, 2024 and shall apply  to  any
 new or renewal contract for voice communication services for incarcerat-
 ed  individuals or other advanced communication services entered into on
 or after such date and provided further that any new or renewal contract
 for voice communication services for incarcerated individuals  or  other
 advanced  communication  services  entered  into  prior to April 1, 2024
 shall not run past March 31, 2024.