AB 731

This bill requires the Department of Corrections and counties to provide certain minimum free telecommunications service access to inmates of state prisons and county jails or houses of correction and juveniles being held in a juvenile correctional facility or detention facility. The bill also provides that telecommunications services may not be used to replace in-person visitation and provides that DOC and counties may not charge inmates or juveniles for access to telecommunications services beyond the required minimums per week and may not charge any other person for the telecommunications services accessed by the inmate or juvenile.

Under the bill, DOC and counties are required to minimize costs for telecommunications services by consolidating contracts for such services. The bill provides that DOC must contract for telecommunications services and must allow counties to join the contract at no cost to the county or, if a county does not join the contract, the county must request, and DOC must provide, reimbursement for the cost to provide telecommunications services to inmates up to the amount those services would have cost under DOC’s contract.

Under the bill, if a county does not join DOC’s contract, it must submit a report to the legislature describing why it has not joined the contract. The bill also provides that DOC and any county that does not join DOC’s contract must annually submit a report to the legislature that contains a copy of all contracts for telecommunications services, along with a summary of the rates and fees being paid for inmate telecommunications services and data on inmate and juvenile use of telecommunications services, including monthly call and message volume.

The bill phases in the minimum telecommunications service access requirements over 18 months and provides to DOC $4,980,500 in the 2025-26 fiscal year and $14,374,600 in the 2026-27 fiscal year to pay for inmate and juvenile telecommunications services and to reimburse counties for inmate telecommunications services.