S. 1749 (111th): Cell Phone Contraband Act of 2010

Introduced:
Oct 05, 2009 (111th Congress, 2009–2010)
Sponsor:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein [D-CA]
Status:
Signed by the President
Slip Law:
This bill became Pub.L. 111-225.

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. S. stands for Senate bill.

(About Ads | Go Ad-Free for $5)
Status

This bill was enacted after being signed by the President on August 10, 2010.

Progress
Introduced Oct 05, 2009
Referred to Committee Oct 05, 2009
Reported by Committee Jan 28, 2010
Passed Senate Apr 13, 2010
Passed House with Changes Jul 20, 2010
Passed House Jul 28, 2010
Signed by the President Aug 10, 2010
Cosponsors
5 cosponsors (3D, 2R) (show)
Committees

House Judiciary

Senate Judiciary

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the possession or use of cell phones and similar wireless devices by Federal prisoners.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

Read Bill Text »

Last updated Jan 01, 2010.
2 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

GovTrack gets most information from THOMAS, which is updated generally one day after events occur. Activity since the last update may not be reflected here.

Citation

Click a format for a citation suggestion:

GovTrack’s Bill Summary

We don’t have a summary available yet.

Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

8/10/2010. Amends the federal criminal code to include a phone or other device provided by a commercial mobile service as a "prohibited object" the provision of which to, or the possession of which by, a federal prisoner is prohibited.
Directs the Comptroller General to submit a report to Congress within one year after the enactment of this Act on a study of:
(1) telephone rates within federal prisons, to include information on interstate, intrastate, and collect calls made by prisoners;
(2) state and federal efforts to prevent the smuggling of cell phones and other wireless devices into prisons; and
(3) cell phone use by inmates in selected state and federal prisons.
Provides for compliance of the budgetary effects of this Act with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

This summary can be found at http://www.gop.gov/bill/111/2/s1749.

Summary

S. 1749 makes it a crime for federal prisoners to possess cell phones while incarcerated.  The bill directs the GAO to study the cost and use of landlines and smuggled cell phones in federal and selected state prisons and jails.  The study will additionally examine selected state and federal efforts to prevent the smuggling of cell phones and other wireless devices into prisons, including efforts made to minimize trafficking of cell phones by prison guards and other officials.

Cost

CBO estimates that implementing S. 1749 would have no significant cost to the federal government.  Enacting the legislation could affect direct spending and revenues; therefore, pay-as-you-go procedures would apply.  However, CBO estimates that the net effects would be insignificant for each year.

Because the bill would establish a new crime, the government might be able to pursue cases that it otherwise would not be able to prosecute.  CBO expects that S. 1749 would apply to a relatively small number of offenders so any increase in costs for law enforcement, court proceedings, or prison operations would not be significant.  Any such costs would be subject to the availability of appropriated funds.

Because those prosecuted and convicted under S. 1749 could be subject to criminal fines, the federal government might collect additional amounts if the legislation is enacted.  Criminal fines are recorded as revenues, deposited in the Crime Victims Fund, and later spent.  CBO estimates that any additional revenues and direct spending would not be significant because of the small number of cases likely to be affected.

 S. 1749 contains no intergovernmental or private-sector mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and would not affect the budgets of state, local, or tribal governments.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.

So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.

We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.

The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)