Minnesota Legislature
HF 2812
as introduced - 94th Legislature (2025 - 2026) Posted on 03/26/2025 11:32am
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A bill for an act
relating to corrections; requiring the commissioner of corrections to charge a fee
for incarcerated person communication services; amending Minnesota Statutes
2024, section 241.252.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:
Section 1.
Minnesota Statutes 2024, section 241.252, is amended to read:
241.252 deleted text begin FREEdeleted text end COMMUNICATION SERVICES FOR INCARCERATED
PERSONS.
Subdivision 1.
deleted text begin Freedeleted text end Communication services.
deleted text begin (a)deleted text end A state adult or juvenile facility under
the control of the commissioner of corrections must deleted text begin provide incarcerated persons withdeleted text end new text begin offernew text end
voice communication servicesnew text begin to incarcerated persons for a feenew text end . A facility may supplement
voice communication services with other new text begin fee-based new text end communication services, including but
not limited to video communication and email or electronic messaging services. deleted text begin A facility
must at least continue to offer the services the facility offered as of January 1, 2023.deleted text end new text begin The
fee charged for communication services must not exceed the actual cost of providing the
services to incarcerated persons.
new text end
deleted text begin
(b) To the extent that voice communication services are provided, which must not be
limited beyond program participation and routine facility policies and procedures, neither
the individual initiating the communication nor the individual receiving the communication
must be charged for the service.
deleted text end
Subd. 2.
Voice communication services restrictions.
Nothing in this section allows an
incarcerated person to violate an active protection order, harassment restraining order, or
other no-contact order or directive.
deleted text begin Subd. 3. deleted text end
deleted text begin State revenue prohibited. deleted text end
deleted text begin
A state agency must not receive revenue from the
provision of voice communication services or any other communication services under this
deleted text end
deleted text begin
section, but an agency may collect commissions on communication services provided under
any contract entered into before January 1, 2023.
deleted text end
Subd. 4.
Visitation programs.
(a) Facilities shall maintain in-person visits for
incarcerated persons, and communication services must not be used to replace a facility's
in-person visitation program.
(b) Notwithstanding paragraph (a), the commissioner may waive the in-person visitation
program requirement under this subdivision if there is:
(1) a declared emergency under section 12.31; or
(2) a local-, state-, or federal-declared natural disaster.
Subd. 5.
Reporting.
The Department of Corrections must include the following
information covering the previous calendar year in its annual performance report required
under section 241.016:
deleted text begin
(1) its efforts to renegotiate the agency's communication contracts, including the rates
the agency is paying or charging incarcerated people or community members for any and
all services in the contracts;
deleted text end
new text begin
(1) the amount of funds expended to provide communication services to incarcerated
persons and the amount of revenue raised by telecommunication fees authorized under this
section;
new text end
(2) a complete and detailed accounting of how legislatively appropriated funds for
communication services are spentdeleted text begin , including spending on expenses previously covered by
commissionsdeleted text end ; and
(3) data on usage of all communication services, including monthly call and message
volume.
Subd. 6.
Definitions.
For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the
meanings given:
(1) "voice communications" means real-time, audio-only communication services,
namely phone calls made over wireline telephony, voice over Internet protocol, or any other
technology infrastructure; and
(2) "other communication services" means communication services other than voice
communications, including but not limited to video calls and electronic messages.