California Is 2nd State to Make Prison Calls Free

People incarcerated in California state prisons and state and local juvenile detention facilities will be able to make free calls starting Jan. 1 under the new law. It doesn't cover county jails. California is the second state to pass such a law, after Connecticut, where calls became free in July. A dispute between the governor and legislature derailed a Massachusetts bill this year (see 2208030056).

“The ability to call your partner, children or friends to instantly share your joys or sadness is something most of us take for granted,” said bill author and state Sen. Josh Becker (D) Friday. “However, for incarcerated people and their families, simple contact over a phone is tightly restricted, mainly due to the outrageous charges imposed to make a call.”

Newsom can’t sign the CASF bill because it would “undermine” the state’s $2 billion last-mile program, established by a $6 billion broadband bill signed last year, “by creating additional delays in its implementation,” the governor said in his veto message to the Assembly. “Most concerning, this bill exacerbates the challenges of issuing grants for last-mile funding by delaying the solicitation, review, and approval of project applications that meet clear requirements designed to ensure that awarded broadband projects deliver on their promise of providing affordable, quality and reliable service.”

Newsom directed California Health and Human Services to propose AB-988 “cleanup language” for the 2023-24 governor’s budget. The 988 mental health line is “an unprecedented opportunity to design and build a robust behavioral health crisis prevention, response, and care system,” Newsom said. “Dedicated resources” and “clear policies” are needed, and AB-988 attempts that, but “the use of revenue generated is unduly restricted,” he said. “This creates considerable confusion about how certain services will be financed, and could severely limit the full potential of the behavioral health crisis response promised by the bill.”

The governor vetoed a social media bill (SB-1018) to require platforms with at least 1 million monthly users to annually disclose content moderation efforts. Newsom said it duplicated a bill he signed earlier in September (see 2209150003). Also, he vetoed AB-1262, which sought to restrict use of recordings or transcriptions of what users say to or in the presence of smart speakers. Newsom shares the concern, but the bill “contains broad language that risks unintended consequences,” including confusing consumers and stunting technological development, he said.

California will be required to make a state digital equity plan by Jan. 1, 2024, under a bill (AB-2750) that Newsom signed earlier in the week.

Worth Rises hopes California’s support for free inmate calls will have “huge momentum for the rest of the country,” the nonprofit’s Executive Director Bianca Tylek told us. The California law could give a boost to current efforts in about a dozen states to pass similar policies, she said.

California sheriffs removed opposition to the free inmate calls bill before it passed the legislature “after the bill was amended to no longer apply to county jails,” emailed California State Sheriffs' Association Legislative Director Cory Salzillo.

Tylek was disappointed California’s law doesn’t cover county jails, a late change to the bill that was made without discussion with the bill’s sponsor, she said. Worth Rises plans to return to the legislature to seek the exemption’s removal, said Tylek: Until the CPUC imposed a 7 cents cap on intrastate rates, some county jails charged 60 to 70 cents per minute.

“As California goes, so goes the nation,” predicted Anne Stuhldreher, director of San Francisco’s Financial Justice Project, which is part of the city and county’s treasurer office. When asked about the law’s exemption for county jails, Stuhldreher replied, “We think that all calls between incarcerated people and their families should be free.” Since San Francisco became the first California county to make jail phone calls free, “people are spending 80% more time on the phone with their families and support networks,” she said.

Industry Laments Veto

The wireless industry is disappointed that Newsom vetoed the CASF bill, said CTIA Senior Vice President-State Affairs Jamie Hastings. “This is common sense legislation that would have helped efficiently deliver broadband to California residents.”

AB-2749 “would have made broadband grant dollars accessible to a wider variety of providers,” said Wireless ISP Association State Advocacy Manager Steve Schwerbel. “The bill’s technology-neutral approach allows limited dollars to stretch further, opening up solutions which a fiber monoculture cannot quickly or cost-effectively address.” WISPA is “exploring other options to ensure the CPUC can follow through on the intent and purpose of AB 2749.” The association asked the state commission last month to clarify that wireless is eligible (see 2209190075).

It's “unfortunate” Newsom vetoed a bill that the legislature almost unanimously supported, a USTelecom spokesperson said. AB-2749 “would have helped narrow the digital divide in California because it encourages the participation and collaboration required to commit time-sensitive federal funding towards connecting California’s unserved communities.”

California consumer advocates applauded the veto. The coalition of more than two dozen organizations, including The Utility Reform Network (TURN) and Institute for Local Self-Reliance, had urged a veto (see 2209120062). The proposed law “would have created barriers to deploying $2 billion of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding allocated to build broadband facilities in unserved and underserved communities in all corners of the state,” said Shayna Englin, California Community Foundation Digital Equity Initiative director. It would have “upended” rules decided by the CPUC after taking comments in a proceeding, effectively “granting industry a second bite at the apple” and setting a “dangerous precedent,” she said.

The veto ensures $2 billion in federal taxpayer dollars “will bring broadband service to areas largely ignored by private interests -- rural regions, low-income areas and communities of color,” emailed TURN Telecommunications Policy Director Regina Costa. “The CPUC can now implement its process to fund crucial broadband projects that comply with the US Treasury Department’s rules.”