House agrees to Senate amendment on telecom services, study to examine inmate communications

The House on May 27 concurred in the Senate proposal of amendment to House Bill 2 94, a measure directing a study on the feasibility and impacts of providing free or reduced-cost communication services to incarcerated Vermonters.

The amendment adopted by the Senate and accepted by the House is narrow: it strikes a single word in section 2 to remove CoreCivic from the list of named stakeholders to be consulted in the study. The member from Montpelier told the House that CoreCivic is a private corrections company housing roughly 150 inmates in Tallahatchie, Mississippi and said the Senate's change reflects a decision not to elevate a for-profit corrections corporation in Vermont statute while leaving the Department of Corrections free to obtain operational information from CoreCivic as needed.

The corrections and institutions committee reported the bill favorably by a 9-0-2 vote and urged the House to concur in the Senate amendment. The Speaker asked for the question and the ayes were recorded; the House concurred in the Senate proposal of amendment by voice vote.

The study directed by H.294 remains in statute as the underlying bill was left intact; the amendment only adjusts which stakeholders are named in the consultation list. No additional floor amendments were offered or adopted.