This bill creates a new section in chapter 72.09 RCW and amends RCW 72.09.765 to require the responsible department to provide real-time, audio-only voice communication services free of charge to people confined in state correctional facilities and to the persons they call. It requires the department to provide tablets at no cost to all persons in custody, to keep at least the same number of wall phones per housing unit as existed on January 1, 2025, and to maintain at least the same access levels to voice services as of that date. The department is prohibited from receiving any revenue, commission, or fee from providing voice communication services, may not use those services to replace in-person visitation, and may not limit or interrupt voice communications made via individualized devices (tablets), although duration limits may apply to wall phones. The bill also imposes contracting, transparency, and reporting requirements by amending RCW 72.09.765: all telecommunication and electronic media service contracts must be posted publicly and summarized in housing units and law library computers; contracts must disclose rates, fees, and costs; contractors must submit an annual report by July 1 with detailed usage, fees, costs, and financial accounting (including services used by persons categorized as indigent); and the department must report to the governor and legislature by November 1 each year. The bill allows the department to deny or suspend tablet access under department policies if a tablet is used to further a crime and permits a 90-day delay in replacing tablets intentionally damaged by a person in custody unless the person pays for replacement. This enacts a new law (a new section) and modifies an existing statute (RCW 72.09.765) to add procedural requirements, transparency obligations, and financial prohibitions related to inmate communication services. The act is titled the "connecting families act" and takes effect December 1, 2025. The text repeatedly refers to "the department" without naming which specific department is meant, does not define "state correctional facility" or the criteria for being "indigent," does not include the department policies that govern loss of tablet access, and contains a bracketed/struck passage whose meaning regarding prior commission accounting is unclear from the provided text.

If enacted, people held in state correctional facilities would get real-time voice calls and a personal tablet at no charge, with their call recipients also free; the department must keep at least the same phone access that existed on January 1, 2025, cannot use voice services to replace in-person visits, and cannot charge for or take commissions from those voice services. Tablets must be provided to everyone in custody at no cost, but the department may delay replacing tablets intentionally damaged by an individual for 90 days unless the person pays, and it can remove tablet access if the device is used to further a crime under its policies. The department named in the law (not identified in the text) will need to absorb the costs and operational duties of supplying and maintaining tablets and phones, maintain or restore wall phones to January 1, 2025 levels, post contracts publicly and produce annual compliance reports to the governor and legislature, and enforce new limitations on revenue from phone services; contractors must disclose detailed rates, usage, costs, revenues, and other contract terms annually and make contracts and fee information easily available in facilities. This likely reduces any prior revenue the department received from telecommunications and increases its budgetary, administrative, and compliance responsibilities; key details left unclear in the text include which specific department is covered, how "state correctional facility" and "indigent" are defined, and the exact departmental policies for removing tablet access.