(11) Mrs. Wright-Reed passed away on Janu-
ary 18, 2015, before fully realizing her dream of just 
communications rates for all people. 
SEC. 3. REQUIREMENTS FOR CONFINEMENT FACILITY 
COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Section 276 of the Communica-
tions Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 276) is amended by adding 
at the end the following: 
‘‘(e) ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
FOR CONFINE-
MENT FACILITY COMMUNICATIONS SERVICES.— 
‘‘(1) AUTHORITY.— 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—All charges, practices, 
classifications, and regulations for and in con-
nection with confinement facility communica-
tions services shall be just and reasonable, and 
any such charge, practice, classification, or reg-
ulation that is unjust or unreasonable is de-
clared to be unlawful. 
‘‘(B) RULEMAKING REQUIRED.—Not later 
than 18 months after the date of the enactment 
of this subsection, the Commission shall issue 
rules to adopt, for the provision of confinement 
facility communications services, rates and an-
cillary service charges that are just and reason-
able, which shall be the maximum such rates 
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and charges that a provider of confinement fa-
cility communications services may charge for 
such services. In determining rates and charges 
that are just and reasonable, the Commission 
shall adopt such rates and charges based on the 
average industry costs of providing such serv-
ices using data collected from providers of con-
finement facility communications services. 
‘‘(C) BIENNIAL
REVIEW.—Not less fre-
quently than every 2 years following the 
issuance of rules under subparagraph (B), the 
Commission shall— 
‘‘(i) determine whether the rates and 
ancillary service charges authorized by the 
rules issued under such subparagraph re-
main just and reasonable; and 
‘‘(ii) if the Commission determines 
under clause (i) that any such rate or 
charge does not remain just and reason-
able, revise such rules so that such rate or 
charge is just and reasonable. 
‘‘(2) INTERIM RATE CAPS.—Until the Commis-
sion issues the rules required by paragraph (1)(B), 
a provider of confinement facility communications 
services may not charge a rate for any voice service 
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communication using confinement facility commu-
nications services that exceeds the following: 
‘‘(A) For debit calling or prepaid calling, 
$0.04 per minute. 
‘‘(B) For collect calling, $0.05 per minute. 
‘‘(3) ASSESSMENT ON PER-MINUTE BASIS.—Ex-
cept as provided in paragraph (4), a provider of con-
finement facility communications services— 
‘‘(A) shall assess all charges for a commu-
nication using such services on a per-minute 
basis for the actual duration of the communica-
tion, measured from communication acceptance 
to termination, rounded up to the next full 
minute, except in the case of charges for serv-
ices that the confinement facility offers free of 
charge or for amounts below the amounts per-
mitted under this subsection; and 
‘‘(B) may not charge a per-communication 
or per-connection charge for a communication 
using such services. 
‘‘(4) ANCILLARY SERVICE CHARGES.— 
‘‘(A) GENERAL PROHIBITION.—A provider 
of confinement facility communications services 
may not charge an ancillary service charge 
other than— 
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‘‘(i) if the Commission has not yet 
issued the rules required by paragraph 
(1)(B), a charge listed in subparagraph 
(B) of this paragraph; or 
‘‘(ii) a charge authorized by the rules 
adopted by the Commission under para-
graph (1). 
‘‘(B) PERMITTED CHARGES AND RATES.— 
If the Commission has not yet issued the rules 
required by paragraph (1)(B), a provider of 
confinement facility communications services 
may not charge a rate for an ancillary service 
charge in excess of the following: 
‘‘(i) In the case of an automated pay-
ment fee, 2.9 percent of the total charge 
on which the fee is assessed. 
‘‘(ii) In the case of a fee for single-call 
and related services, the exact transaction 
fee charged by the third-party provider, 
with no markup. 
‘‘(iii) In the case of a live agent fee, 
$5.95 per use. 
‘‘(iv) In the case of a paper bill or 
statement fee, $2 per use. 
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‘‘(v) In the case of a third-party fi-
nancial transaction fee, the exact fee, with 
no markup, charged by the third party for 
the transaction. 
‘‘(5) PROHIBITION ON SITE COMMISSIONS.—A 
provider of confinement facility communications 
services may not assess a site commission. 
‘‘(6) RELATIONSHIP TO STATE LAW.—A State 
or political subdivision of a State may not enforce 
any law, rule, regulation, standard, or other provi-
sion having the force or effect of law relating to con-
finement facility communications services that allows 
for higher rates or other charges to be assessed for 
such services than is permitted under any Federal 
law or regulation relating to confinement facility 
communications services. 
‘‘(7) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 
‘‘(A) ANCILLARY SERVICE CHARGE.—The 
term ‘ancillary service charge’ means any 
charge a consumer may be assessed for the set-
ting up or use of a confinement facility commu-
nications service that is not included in the per- 
minute charges assessed for individual commu-
nications. 
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‘‘(B) AUTOMATED
PAYMENT
FEE.—The 
term ‘automated payment fee’ means a credit 
card payment, debit card payment, or bill proc-
essing fee, including a fee for a payment made 
by means of interactive voice response, the 
internet, or a kiosk. 
‘‘(C) COLLECT CALLING.—The term ‘col-
lect calling’ means an arrangement whereby a 
credit-qualified party agrees to pay for charges 
associated with a communication made to such 
party using confinement facility communica-
tions services and originating from within a 
confinement facility. 
‘‘(D) CONFINEMENT FACILITY.—The term 
‘confinement facility’— 
‘‘(i) means a jail or a prison; and 
‘‘(ii) includes any juvenile, detention, 
work release, or mental health facility that 
is used primarily to hold individuals who 
are— 
‘‘(I) awaiting adjudication of 
criminal charges or an immigration 
matter; or 
‘‘(II) serving a sentence for a 
criminal conviction. 
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‘‘(E) CONFINEMENT
FACILITY
COMMU-
NICATIONS
SERVICE.—The term ‘confinement 
facility communications service’ means a service 
that allows incarcerated persons to make elec-
tronic communications (whether intrastate, 
interstate, or international and whether made 
using video, audio, or any other communicative 
method, including advanced communications 
services) to individuals outside the confinement 
facility, or to individuals inside the confinement 
facility, where the incarcerated person is being 
held, regardless of the technology used to de-
liver the service. 
‘‘(F) CONSUMER.—The term ‘consumer’ 
means the party paying a provider of confine-
ment facility communications services. 
‘‘(G) DEBIT
CALLING.—The term ‘debit 
calling’ means a presubscription or comparable 
service which allows an incarcerated person, or 
someone acting on an incarcerated person’s be-
half, to fund an account set up through a pro-
vider that can be used to pay for confinement 
facility communications services originated by 
the incarcerated person. 
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‘‘(H) FEE
FOR
SINGLE-CALL
AND
RE-
LATED SERVICES.—The term ‘fee for single-call 
and related services’ means a billing arrange-
ment whereby communications made by an in-
carcerated person using collect calling are billed 
through a third party on a per-communication 
basis, where the recipient does not have an ac-
count with the provider of confinement facility 
communications services. 
‘‘(I) INCARCERATED
PERSON.—The term 
‘incarcerated person’ means a person detained 
at a confinement facility, regardless of the du-
ration of the detention. 
‘‘(J) JAIL.—The term ‘jail’— 
‘‘(i) means a facility of a law enforce-
ment agency of the Federal Government or 
of a State or political subdivision of a 
State that is used primarily to hold indi-
viduals who are— 
‘‘(I) awaiting adjudication of 
criminal charges; 
‘‘(II) post-conviction and com-
mitted to confinement for sentences of 
one year or less; or 
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‘‘(III) post-conviction and await-
ing transfer to another facility; and 
‘‘(ii) includes— 
‘‘(I) city, county, or regional fa-
cilities that have contracted with a 
private company to manage day-to- 
day operations; 
‘‘(II) privately-owned and oper-
ated facilities primarily engaged in 
housing city, county, or regional in-
carcerated persons; and 
‘‘(III) facilities used to detain in-
dividuals pursuant to a contract with 
U.S. Immigration and Customs En-
forcement. 
‘‘(K) LIVE
AGENT
FEE.—The term ‘live 
agent fee’ means a fee associated with the op-
tional use of a live operator to complete a con-
finement facility communications service trans-
action. 
‘‘(L) PAPER BILL OR STATEMENT FEE.— 
The term ‘paper bill or statement fee’ means a 
fee associated with providing a consumer an op-
tional paper billing statement. 
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‘‘(M) PER-COMMUNICATION
OR
PER-CON-
NECTION CHARGE.—The term ‘per-communica-
tion or per-connection charge’ means a one-time 
fee charged to a consumer at the initiation of 
a communication. 
‘‘(N) PREPAID CALLING.—The term ‘pre-
paid calling’ means a calling arrangement that 
allows a consumer to pay in advance for a spec-
ified amount of confinement facility commu-
nications services. 
‘‘(O) PRISON.—The term ‘prison’— 
‘‘(i) means a facility operated by a 
State or Federal agency that is used pri-
marily to confine individuals convicted of 
felonies and sentenced to terms in excess 
of one year; and 
‘‘(ii) includes— 
‘‘(I) public and private facilities 
that provide outsource housing to 
State or Federal agencies such as 
State Departments of Correction and 
the Federal Bureau of Prisons; and 
‘‘(II) facilities that would other-
wise be jails but in which the majority 
of incarcerated persons are post-con-
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viction or are committed to confine-
ment for sentences of longer than one 
year. 
‘‘(P) PROVIDER OF CONFINEMENT FACIL-
ITY
COMMUNICATIONS
SERVICES.—The term 
‘provider of confinement facility communica-
tions services’ means any communications serv-
ice provider that provides confinement facility 
communications services, regardless of the tech-
nology used. 
‘‘(Q) SITE
COMMISSION.—The term ‘site 
commission’ means any monetary payment, in- 
kind payment, gift, exchange of services or 
goods, fee, technology allowance, or product 
that a provider of confinement facility commu-
nications services or an affiliate of a provider of 
confinement facility communications services 
may pay, give, donate, or otherwise provide 
to— 
‘‘(i) an entity that operates a confine-
ment facility; 
‘‘(ii) an entity with which the provider 
of confinement facility communications 
services enters into an agreement to pro-
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vide confinement facility communications 
services; 
‘‘(iii) a governmental agency that 
oversees a confinement facility; 
‘‘(iv) the State or political subdivision 
of a State where a confinement facility is 
located; or 
‘‘(v) an agent or other representative 
of an entity described in any of clauses (i) 
through (iv). 
‘‘(R) THIRD-PARTY
FINANCIAL
TRANS-
ACTION FEE.—The term ‘third-party financial 
transaction fee’ means the exact fee, with no 
markup, that a provider of confinement facility 
communications services is charged by a third 
party to transfer money or process a financial 
transaction to facilitate the ability of a con-
sumer to make an account payment via a third 
party. 
‘‘(S) VOICE
SERVICE.—The term ‘voice 
service’— 
‘‘(i) means any service that is inter-
connected with the public switched tele-
phone network and that furnishes voice 
communications to an end user using re-
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sources from the North American Num-
bering Plan or any successor to the North 
American Numbering Plan adopted by the 
Commission under section 251(e)(1); and 
‘‘(ii) includes— 
‘‘(I) transmissions from a tele-
phone facsimile machine, computer, or 
other device to a telephone facsimile 
machine; and 
‘‘(II) 
without 
limitation, 
any 
service that enables real-time, two-way 
voice communications, including any 
service that requires internet protocol- 
compatible customer premises equip-
ment (commonly known as ‘CPE’) 
and permits out-bound calling, wheth-
er or not the service is one-way or 
two-way voice over internet protocol.’’. 
(b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 276(d) of 
the Communications Act of 1934 (47 U.S.C. 276(d)) is 
amended by striking ‘‘inmate telephone service in correc-
tional institutions’’ and inserting ‘‘confinement facility 
communications services (as defined in subsection 
(e)(7))’’. 
(c) EXISTING CONTRACTS.— 
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