Wisconsin challenging FCC over inmate phone call rule

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Wisconsin is leading the charge against the Federal Communications Commission over a rule capping what state prisons and local jails can charge inmates for phone calls.

Attorney General Brad Schimel, according to a news release issued Friday, is leading Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, Nevada, Arizona, Arkansas and Indiana to intervene in Oklahoma v. FCC, a case pending in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

If the motion to intervene is granted, the coalition of states plans to argue that the rule is arbitrary and unconstitutional, according to the release.

The rule prohibits state prisons and local jails from charging more than 11 cents per minute for local and out-of-state calls.

The rule, Schimel argues, would prevent states and counties from recovering the costs of call monitoring, escorting inmates to make phone calls, escorting technicians to maintain the phones and keeping the call system updated to prevent security risks.

The motion was filed Wednesday.

This is only one of a number of federal rules, laws and other actions the state’s attorney general is challenging. Wisconsin is also one of six states that filed a challenge to a fee imposed on health-insurance providers by the Affordable Care Act. Schimel is also challenging President Barack Obama’s Immigration Executive order, the EPA’s Waters of the United States rule, the EPA Clean Power Plan and the EPA’s new ozone air quality standards. Follow @erikastrebel