[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 25 (Thursday, February 6, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6947-6948]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-02343]


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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

[OMB 3060-1222; FRS 16459]


Information Collection Approved by the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB)

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has received 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for the following public

[[Page 6948]]

information collection pursuant to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. 
An agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of information unless 
it displays a currently valid OMB control number, and no person is 
required to respond to a collection of information unless it displays a 
currently valid control number. Comments concerning the accuracy of the 
burden estimates and any suggestions for reducing the burden should be 
directed to the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT 
section below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nicole Ongele, [email protected], 
(202) 418-2991.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    OMB Control Number: 3060-1222.
    OMB Approval Date: January 28, 2020.
    OMB Expiration Date: January 31, 2023.
    Title: Inmate Calling Services, Annual Reporting, Certification, 
and Consumer Disclosure Requirements.
    Form Number(s): FCC Form 2301(a) and FCC Form 2301(b).
    Respondents: Business or other for-profit entities.
    Number of Respondents and Responses: 20 respondents; 20 responses.
    Estimated Time Per Response: 5 hours-80 hours.
    Frequency of Response: Annual reporting and certification 
requirements; third party disclosure requirement.
    Total Annual Burden: 2,000 hours.
    Total Annual Cost: No cost.
    Obligation to Respond: Mandatory. Statutory authority for this 
information collection is contained in 47 CFR 1, 4(i), 4(j), 201, 225, 
276, and 303(r) of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended, 47 
U.S.C. 151, 154(i), 154(j), 201, 225, 276, and 303(r).
    Privacy Act Impact Assessment: No impact.
    Nature and Extent of Confidentiality: The Commission anticipates 
treating as presumptively confidential any particular information 
identified as proprietary by providers of inmate calling services 
(ICS).
    Needs and Uses: Section 201 of the Communications Act of 1934 Act, 
as amended (Act), 47 U.S.C. 201, requires that ICS providers' 
interstate and international rates and practices be just and 
reasonable. Section 276 of the Act, 47 U.S.C. 276, requires that 
payphone service providers (including ICS providers) be fairly 
compensated for completed calls.
    In the Second Report and Order and Third Further Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking (Second Report and Order), WC Docket No. 12-375, FCC 15-136, 
the Commission undertook comprehensive reform of the ICS rules. The 
Commission, among other things, established new rate caps for 
interstate and intrastate ICS calls and limited and capped ancillary 
service charges. To enable the Commission to ensure compliance with the 
rules adopted in the Second Report and Order and monitor the 
effectiveness of the ICS reforms, the Commission required all ICS 
providers to file annual reports providing data and other information 
on their ICS operations.
    In particular, the Commission required each ICS provider to file a 
report annually specifying, for the prior calendar year: Interstate, 
international, and intrastate minutes of use by facility; and the name, 
size, and type of facility being served; fees for any ancillary 
services, the amount of these fees, and the number of times each fee 
was imposed; monthly site commission payments; rates and minutes of use 
for video calling services by facility, as well as ancillary fee 
charges for such services; the number of disability-related calls, 
problems associated with such calls, and ancillary fees charged in 
connection with such calls; and the number of complaints received 
related to, for example, dropped calls and poor call quality and the 
number of instances of each by TTY and TRS users. The annual reports 
ensure that the Commission has access to the information it needs to 
fulfill its regulatory duties, while minimizing the burden on ICS 
providers
    The Commission required that an ICS provider certify annually the 
accuracy of the data and other information submitted in the provider's 
annual report and the provider's compliance with the Commission's ICS 
rates. Pursuant to the authority delegated to it by the Commission in 
the Second Report and Order, the Commission's Wireline Competition 
Bureau (Bureau) created standardized templates for the annual reports 
(FCC Form 2301(a)) and certifications (FCC Form 2301(b)). The Bureau 
provided instructions that explain the reporting and certification 
requirements and reduce the burden of the data collection. The 
Commission also required ICS providers to disclose to consumers their 
interstate, intrastate, and international rates and ancillary service 
charges.
    On June 13, 2017, the D.C. Circuit vacated the video visitation 
requirements in the annual report. Pursuant to the D.C. Circuit's 
mandate and its delegated authority, the Bureau has removed the video 
visitation reporting requirements in the annual report and amended the 
instructions to reflect the removal of this requirement. As part of the 
Bureau's continued administration of the ICS data collection, the 
Bureau has modified the instructions for FCC Form 2301(a) and FCC Form 
2301(b) in several additional respects. These changes make the 
instructions clearer and will make the annual reports easier to 
understand and analyze. The amended instructions require ICS providers 
to: Submit all reports using the electronic Excel template provided by 
the Bureau, and to provide the data in a machine-readable, 
manipulatable format; provide city and state information for each 
facility served; group the facilities served by underlying contracts in 
the section for ICS Rates; separately report and explain their rates 
for debit/prepaid calls and collect calls; report fixed site commission 
payments by facility as well as by contract; and explain certain 
entries, including any entry that omits requested information. These 
changes will impose only a minimal additional burden on providers 
because they address only information that providers usually and 
customarily compile in the normal course of their business activities. 
The information will help the Commission continue to analyze changes in 
the ICS industry, to monitor compliance with the ICS rules, and to 
enforce these rules.

Federal Communications Commission.
Marlene Dortch,
Secretary, Office of the Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-02343 Filed 2-5-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6712-01-P