Court Strikes Obama-Era Rule Capping Cost of Phone Calls From Prison -<br />By CECILIA KANGJUNE 13, 2017<br />WASHINGTON — A federal court on Tuesday struck down regulations<br />that cap the soaring cost of phone calls made by prison inmates, in another rollback of Obama-era telecommunications rules.<br />In a 2-1 decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said<br />that while the rates charged for in-state prison phone calls could be extraordinarily high, the Federal Communications Commission exceeded its legal authority in 2015 when it created rate caps for such calls.<br />rules were challenged by telecom firms that argued against the F. C.C.’s economic calculations for price caps and told the court<br />that the agency did not have the authority to regulate the in-state prison phone rates.<br />advised the court that, due to a change in the composition of the commission, ‘a majority of the current commission does not believe<br />that the agency has the authority to cap intrastate rates,’” the court’s opinion noted.
