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<ns0:Id>20250SB__049897AMD</ns0:Id>
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<ns0:ActionText>INTRODUCED</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2025-02-19</ns0:ActionDate>
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<ns0:ActionText>AMENDED_SENATE</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2025-05-23</ns0:ActionDate>
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<ns0:ActionText>AMENDED_ASSEMBLY</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2026-04-06</ns0:ActionDate>
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<ns0:SessionYear>2025</ns0:SessionYear>
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<ns0:AuthorText authorType="LEAD_AUTHOR">Introduced by Senator Becker</ns0:AuthorText>
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<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Becker</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Title> An act to amend Section 2084.5 of the Penal Code, relating to corrections.</ns0:Title>
<ns0:RelatingClause>corrections</ns0:RelatingClause>
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<ns0:Subject>Incarcerated persons: communications.</ns0:Subject>
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<html:p>Under existing law, a person sentenced to imprisonment in state prison or in a county jail for a felony offense, as specified, may, during that period of confinement, be deprived only of those rights as are reasonably related to legitimate penological interests. Existing law requires the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to provide inmates with accessible, functional voice communication services free of charge to the person initiating and the person receiving the communication.</html:p>
<html:p>This bill would additionally require the department to provide inmates electronic messaging services as described above. The bill would prohibit staff at a department facility, if an incarcerated individual is authorized to possess and use a tablet or other device for voice
communications, from disconnecting any communications conducted by the individual on the device based solely on the duration of the call.</html:p>
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<ns0:Preamble>The people of the State of California do enact as follows:</ns0:Preamble>
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<ns0:Num>SECTION 1.</ns0:Num>
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Section 2084.5 of the
<ns0:DocName>Penal Code</ns0:DocName>
is amended to read:
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<ns0:Num>2084.5.</ns0:Num>
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(a)
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A state prison or youth residential placement or detention center operated by the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall provide persons in their custody and confined in a correctional or detention facility with accessible, functional voice communication and electronic messaging services free of charge to the person initiating and the person receiving the communication. The Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation shall have operational discretion in implementing this subdivision such that free voice communication and electronic messaging services do not interfere with necessary
programming.
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(b)
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A state agency shall not receive revenue from the provision of voice communication services or any other communication services to a person confined in a state correctional or detention facility.
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(c)
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If an incarcerated individual is authorized to possess and use a tablet or other device for voice communications, facility staff shall not disconnect any communications conducted by the individual on the device based solely on the duration of the call.
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