ICS Providers Call for Hold on State Prison Calling Proceedings After FCC Order, NPRM
Securus and Global Tel Link are trying to delay intrastate prison calling reform proceedings in Massachusetts and Alabama following the FCC’s NPRM released in September (CD Sept 27 p20). The companies filed motions in the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Cable to hold in abeyance a petition from the Prisoners’ Legal Services of Massachusetts (PLS) for the department to rule on reform rates due to ongoing proceedings. The Alabama Public Service Commission granted an Oct. 29 request from Global Tel Link to extend the comment deadline for its revised rulemaking on inmate calling services (ICS), which ended Nov. 8, to Dec. 6 due to the “level of detail of the staff proposal and the time requirements for review of the staff proposal” in light of the FCC’s order and FNPRM (http://1.usa.gov/1bv5PeJ).
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The PLS appeal is trying to get “two simultaneous bites at the apple" with proceedings at the DTC and the FCC, said Securus in its appeal (http://1.usa.gov/1eNdqsy). The PLS has now decided it doesn’t like its original position on usage rates in Massachusetts and is trying to “change that position by claiming that the Hearing Officer ‘misinterpreted’ their Initial Petition,” said Securus. PLS seeks to add more information from the FCC proceeding to support “this change in tune,” said Securus. Global Tel Link agreed with Securus that PLS was trying to add new information in its appeal (http://1.usa.gov/1apZXlV). It said the petitioners contend there is “substantial evidence” that ICS can be provided at rates lower than the current rate in Massachusetts. The “petitioners cannot raise new arguments or facts for the first time on appeal,” said Global Tel Link.
Through the DTC proceeding, the ICS companies are “doing their job to avoid regulations” by asking the FCC and the DTC not to move the proceeding forward, Bonita Tenneriello, an attorney with PLS, told us Wednesday. “The FCC asked the states to move forward with their own regulations in its order,” she said. “State actions are in concert with what the FCC is doing moving forward.” The ICS companies’ justification for stalling the DTC’s investigation is “sheer speculation,” said PLS in its opposition to abeyance (http://1.usa.gov/1e43Qyk). “The companies make no claim that the FCC action creates any conflict with the DTC investigation into IC service quality and business practices,” said the PLS filing. The DTC should move forward with its investigation on dropped calls and bad phone connections, since it was not part of the FCC order, said Tenneriello.
ICS services in Alabama have been under investigation by the PSC since November 2012, Peter Wagner, Prison Policy Initiative executive director, told us Wednesday. The PSC updated its proposed commission rules following the FCC order in September. The proposed rules would change commissions to prisons, sales taxes, usage charges and video visitation authority rates. The Prison Policy Initiative applauded the PSC’s efforts to address the fee issue in its proposal, it said in a letter. “We believe that regulating fees is an integral part of comprehensive regulation of prison and jail phone companies, and we commend Alabama for being the first state to, in our knowledge, directly address this major but hidden part of the industry,” said the letter.
The “jurisdictional debate” on intrastate services between the FCC and the Alabama PSC needs to be resolved before this proceeding can move forward, said Securus in its motion to hold in abeyance (http://1.usa.gov/1e46c0p). “It is inappropriate, an unreasonable drain on resources, and unfair that Securus, and other ICS providers, are required to defend and adjudicate the same issue in two separate venues,” said the Securus motion. States have the right to impose stricter regulations than those at the federal level, said Wagner. “Alabama’s proceeding is further along than the FCC’s, so I don’t see why it can’t go ahead,” he said. Wagner said he is skeptical that the DTC or the PSC would accept the arguments by the ICS companies. “There is no intellectual merit in their case, but they may be able to delay the proceedings for the sake of delaying it,” said Wagner.(sfriedman@warren-news.com)