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  "description": "Move sets up clash with nearly 100 advocacy groups, state AGs, and lawmakers backing protections.\n",
  "path": "/fcc-plans-october-vote-to-revisit-prison-phone-rate-caps/",
  "publishedAt": "2025-09-17T17:12:52.000Z",
  "site": "https://broadbandbreakfast.com",
  "tags": [
    "_lawmakers_",
    "_individuals_",
    "_mandated by Congress_",
    "__Martha Wright-Reed Act__",
    "FCC Sept. 7 Reply Brief in Securus v. FCC(09-07-2025) REPLY filed by Respondent FCC in 24-8028 24-1814 24-1859 24-1860 24-1861 24-1884 24-1886 24-1.pdf238 KBdownload-circle",
    "_2024 order_",
    "_June 30 order_",
    "_a letter_",
    "_application for review_",
    "_filed in support_",
    "_National Sheriffs’ Association_",
    "_PayTel_",
    "_Securus_",
    "_states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Indiana_"
  ],
  "textContent": "WASHINGTON, Sept. 17, 2025 – The Federal Communications Commission told a federal court it plans to vote Oct. 28 to pull back regulations it adopted last year to lower prices on prison phone calls.\n\nThat’s setting up a clash with nearly 100 advocacy groups, 23 House _lawmakers_, and more than 14,000 _individuals_ who have pressed the FCC to restore the protections _mandated by Congress_ in 2023 through the bipartisan __Martha Wright-Reed Act__.\n\nOn Sept. 7, the FCC said it expects to vote in October on an order that would “moot a substantial portion of litigation” over its 2024 prison phone order, in a filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.\n\nFCC Sept. 7 Reply Brief in Securus v. FCC(09-07-2025) REPLY filed by Respondent FCC in 24-8028 24-1814 24-1859 24-1860 24-1861 24-1884 24-1886 24-1.pdf238 KBdownload-circle\n\nThe FCC wasn’t vague about its proposed new regulations – it told the court the Oct. 28 vote will likely include: 1) an order on reconsideration to directly change parts of the FCC’s _2024 order_ capping rates and fees, and 2) a further notice of proposed rulemaking to reopen broader issues around how rate caps are calculated.\n\nThe development comes as the FCC sought to dismiss oral arguments in _Securus v. FCC_ – a challenge by one of the nation’s largest prison phone companies to the FCC's 2024 order. After filing a brief in April defending its rules, the FCC has since told the court the case was moot because it intends to issue new regulations.\n\n“The question is what can we do,” said**Bianca Tylek** , executive director of Worth Rises, in an interview with _Broadband Breakfast_. Worth Rises was one of the public-interest groups petitioning the FCC to overturn its _June 30 order_ delaying implementation of the rate caps, and also an active participant in the _Securus_ case in the First Circuit.\n\n“Our hope is that we can, between now and then, appeal to the commissioners,” Tylek detailed. “The new commissioner, **Olivia Trusty** , we are hoping to have a conversation with at some point ahead of October 28 to see what her positionality is.”\n\nTylek said the FCC was expected to circulate a draft order two weeks before the Oct. 28 vote. As of yet, it remains unclear how far the FCC will go in reversing the 2024 order. Some provisions have continued to be enforced, even as others were suspended.\n\n“It’s not clear yet which pieces they’ll be reversing,” Tylek said. “From my understanding, it doesn't seem like they're going to reverse it 100 percent.”\n\nNearly 100 organizations sent _a letter_ to FCC Chairman**Brendan Carr** and Commissioners **Anna Gomez** and Trusty this week, calling on the FCC to overturn the Wireline Competition Bureau’s suspension order delaying the rate caps.\n\nThe letter was one of more than 1,000 reply comments filed Monday in support of the public-interest groups’ _application for review_.\n\nAttorneys general from Massachusetts, California, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island _filed in support_ of the public-interest petition, noting that many of their states already provide low-cost or free prison communications.\n\nOn the other side, filings from the _National Sheriffs’ Association_, prison telecom providers _PayTel_ and _Securus_, and the _states of Louisiana, Arkansas, Indiana_ urged the FCC on Aug. 29 to uphold the WCB’s suspension order.\n\n“We hope this letter will be effective, but recent federal court filings by the FCC lead us to believe that it will go unheard,” said**Cheryl Leanza** , policy advisor of the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry, which has intervened in the First Circuit case.\n\nThe First Circuit has already rejected the FCC’s claim that the case was moot. The FCC then filed a renewed request to pause oral arguments, but the court has kept the October 7 hearing on the calendar. Advocates’ legal teams are preparing to defend the 2024 order in those arguments.",
  "title": "FCC Plans October Vote to Revisit Prison Phone Rate Caps",
  "updatedAt": "2026-03-11T05:45:57.193Z"
}