A Public Safety subcommittee voted 6-0 to report Senate Bill 770, which would consolidate several reporting requirements for the State Board of Local and Regional Jails into one annual report that includes a summary of inmate deaths, trend information, causes and recommendations.

Sponsor Sen. Jennifer Favola said the bill “consolidates the various pieces of information that have to be reported by the State Board of Local and Regional Jails” into a single annual report and that the report “will include a summary of the deaths of inmates that occur in any of our local or regional jails.” Favola said aspects of the reporting requirement were already authorized in earlier legislation: “This was a bill that passed last year and was signed into law.”

Brian Flaherty, executive director of the Board of Local and Regional Jails, told the subcommittee the board “strongly support[s] this bill” and described the measure as a uniforming and aligning of data so information arrives sooner. Fatima Muwehid of the Humanization Project testified in support online, saying publicly available data on jail and prison deaths “fosters transparency and accountability” and helps identify systemic issues such as inadequate health care and dangerous conditions.

The subcommittee moved to report the bill by voice and the clerk closed the roll; the bill was reported 6 to 0. The transcript does not record any amendments, opposing testimony, or a recorded plan for implementing the consolidated report.