NY State Senate Bill 2023-S7981

Senate Bill S7981

2023-2024 Legislative Session

Creates parity for incarcerated individual telephone services for international calls to family members

download bill text pdf

Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Crime Victims, Crime And Correction Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

Please enter your contact information

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

A valid email address is required.

Home address is used to determine the senate district in which you reside. Your support or opposition to this bill is then shared immediately with the senator who represents you.

Optional services from the NY State Senate:

Create an account. An account allows you to officially support or oppose key legislation, sign petitions with a single click, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.

Include a custom message for your Senator? (Optional)

Enter a message to your senator. Many New Yorkers use this to share the reasoning behind their support or opposition to the bill. Others might share a personal anecdote about how the bill would affect them or people they care about.

Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jan 04, 2024	referred to crime victims, crime and correction

2023-S7981 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A6417
Current Committee:: Senate Crime Victims, Crime And Correction
Law Section:: Correction Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §623, Cor L

2023-S7981 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Creates parity for incarcerated individual telephone services for international calls to family members outside continental United States, Canada, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam or Central Northern Mariana Islands by requiring identical restrictions on the duration or number of phone calls and use of unit or facility phones made available to incarcerated individuals who are calling family members who are not outside continental United States, Canada, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam or Central Northern Mariana Islands.

2023-S7981 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 
BILL NUMBER: S7981

SPONSOR: CLEARE
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the correction law, in relation to creating parity for
incarcerated individual telephone services for international calls to
family members

 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:

The purpose of this bill is to create parity and ensure access for
incarcerated :Individuals telephone services when making international
calls to other countries for example countries such as Ecuador, Israel,
and Philippines.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1.(a): Amends subdivision 4 of section 623 of the correction
law, as amended by chapter 322 of the laws of 2021 to establish rules
and regulations or department procedure to ensure that any individual
phone call system can provide reasonable security measure to preserve

the safety.

Section 1 (b) states that such rules and regulations shall not impose
different restrictions on the duration, the number of calls, or the use
of unit or facility phones when calling a family member outside of the
United States, Canada, U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam or Central
Mariana Islands.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

Many of New York State's incarcerated individuals have family and
friends living abroad. In 2021, DOCCs reported that 10% of incarcerated
individuals are foreign-born. * Incarcerated Individuals have a right to
call home to inform their family of their safety and well-being while
being in a correctional facility. It has been reported that incarcerated
individuals who need to make international phone calls get fewer calls
monthly, less time to make calls, and less access to phones to make such
calls. This bill will ensure uniformity and parity for incarcerated
individuals to make international phone calls across the State's correc-
tional facilities.

 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

This is a new bill.

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:

To be determined.

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal
of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act

2023-S7981 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                             
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   7981
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              January 4, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  CLEARE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed to the Committee on Crime Victims,  Crime  and
   Correction
 
 AN  ACT  to amend the correction law, in relation to creating parity for
   incarcerated individual telephone services for international calls  to
   family members
 
   THE  PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section 1. Subdivision 4 of section 623  of  the  correction  law,  as
 amended  by  chapter  322  of  the  laws  of 2021, is amended to read as
 follows:
   4. (A) The department shall establish rules and regulations or depart-
 mental procedures to ensure that any incarcerated individual phone  call
 system established 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.
   (B)  SUCH  RULES AND REGULATIONS SHALL INCLUDE PROVISIONS REQUIRING AN
 INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL WHO IS PLACING A CALL TO A FAMILY MEMBER WHO  IS
 OUTSIDE  THE  CONTINENTAL  UNITED  STATES,  CANADA, U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS,
 PUERTO RICO, GUAM OR CENTRAL NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS TO HAVE  THE  SAME
 RESTRICTIONS  ON  THE  DURATION  OR  NUMBER  OF CALLS, OR USE OF UNIT OR
 FACILITY PHONES, AS AN INCARCERATED INDIVIDUAL WHO IS CALLING  A  FAMILY
 MEMBER  WHO  IS  NOT OUTSIDE THE CONTINENTAL UNITED STATES, CANADA, U.S.
 VIRGIN ISLANDS, PUERTO RICO, GUAM OR CENTRAL NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS.
   § 2. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day  after  it  shall
 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
 repeal  of  any  rule  or regulation necessary for the implementation of
 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made  and  completed
 on or before such effective date.
 
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                            LBD10648-02-3

Comments

Open Legislation is a forum for New York State legislation. All comments are subject to review and community moderation is encouraged.

Comments deemed off-topic, commercial, campaign-related, self-promotional; or that contain profanity, hate or toxic speech; or that link to sites outside of the nysenate.gov domain are not permitted, and will not be published. Attempts to intimidate and silence contributors or deliberately deceive the public, including excessive or extraneous posting/posts, or coordinated activity, are prohibited and may result in the temporary or permanent banning of the user. Comment moderation is generally performed Monday through Friday. By contributing or voting you agree to the Terms of Participation and verify you are over 13.

Create an account. An account allows you to sign petitions with a single click, officially support or oppose key legislation, and follow issues, committees, and bills that matter to you. When you create an account, you agree to this platform's terms of participation.