BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 1876 (Quirk) - Jails and juvenile facilities: telephone
service contracts.
Amended: June 10, 2014 Policy Vote: Public Safety 5-0
Urgency: No Mandate: Yes
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014
Consultant: Jolie Onodera
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 1876 would prohibit commissions in telephone
service contracts for jails and juvenile facilities, as
specified, and requires such contracts to be negotiated and
awarded to the lowest cost provider. This bill would also
require all current telephone contracts that provide telephone
services to any person detained or sentenced to a jail or
juvenile facility to be amended to eliminate commissions and
other payments on or before January 1, 2016.
Fiscal Impact:
Unknown, potentially significant one-time
state-reimbursable costs (General Fund) to local jails and
juvenile facilities in order to amend current telephone
contracts by January 1, 2016, and reduce telephone rates. To
the extent current contracts expire beyond the specified
date could result in penalties and charges to amend, and
would require additional workload to renegotiate existing
contracts, or potentially, to execute new contracts with
alternative vendors.
Potential reduction in local Inmate Welfare Funds (IWFs)
due to the prohibition on commissions and other payments
from telephone service contracts.
Background: Under existing law, the sheriff of each county may
establish, maintain, and operate a store in connection with the
county jail and for this purpose may purchase goods and supplies
and sell these items to inmates in the jail, with any profit
deposited in an inmate welfare fund (IWF) to be kept in the
treasury of the county. (Penal Code (PC) � 4025(a).)
Under existing law, any money, fund, rebate, or commission
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received from a telephone company or pay telephone provider when
the money, refund, rebate, or commission is attributable to the
use of pay telephones which are primarily used by inmates while
incarcerated are to be deposited in the IWF. (PC � 4025(d).)
Moneys and property deposited in the IWF are to be spent by the
sheriff primarily for the benefit, education, and welfare of the
inmates confined within the jail, and any funds not needed for
the welfare of the inmates may be expended for the maintenance
of county jail facilities. Existing law provides that
"maintenance of county jail facilities" includes but is not
limited to the salary and benefits of personnel used in the
programs to benefit the inmates such as education, drug and
alcohol treatment, welfare, library, accounting, and other
programs deemed appropriate by the sheriff. (PC � 4025(e).)
Moneys from the IWF may also be spent to provide indigent
inmates, prior to release from county jail or any other adult
detention facility under the jurisdiction of the sheriff, with
essential clothing and transportation expenses, as specified.
(PC � 4025(i).)
Proposed Law: This bill would require any contract to provide
telephone services to any detained or sentenced person to a jail
or juvenile facility to be negotiated and awarded to an entity
that meets the jail or juvenile facility's technical and
functional requirements for services, and provides the lowest
cost of service to any person who pays for the telephone
service. Additionally, this bill:
Prohibits a contract to provide telephone services to
persons detained or sentenced to jail or juvenile
facilities from including any commission or other payment
to the entity operating the jail or facility.
Requires that telephone rates be reduced in response to
the elimination of commission fees.
Requires all current telephone contracts that provide
telephone services to any person detained or sentenced to a
jail or juvenile facility shall be amended to eliminate
commissions and other payments on or before January 1,
2016.
Provides that telephone contracts that provide free
telephone services are exempt from the above requirement.
Allows a county to require a telephone service provider
to cover all costs related to the installation and
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maintenance of the telephone devices and services.
Defines "jail" as a county jail, a municipal jail, or a
privately operated jail.
Defines "juvenile facility" as any juvenile hall, camp,
ranch, or other facility where a person is detained as a
result of juvenile ward petition of the court.
Staff Comments: Local jails and juvenile facilities could incur
one-time state-reimbursable costs of an unknown amount to amend
existing contracts for telephone services to eliminate
commissions by January 1, 2016. To the extent current contracts
expire beyond the specified date could result in penalties and
charges to amend existing contracts, and would likely require
additional workload to renegotiate existing contracts, or
potentially, to execute new contracts with alternative vendors
to meet the specifications of this bill.
As a result of the prohibition on commissions and other
payments, some counties will experience reductions in county IWF
balances of an unknown, but potentially significant amount.