Impacts of the FCC’s Lifeline Reform Order

Olivia Wein, Staff AttorneyNational Consumer Law Center

NASUCA Mid-Year MeetingJune 26, 2012

Charleston, South Carolina

1

FCC’s Revamped Lifeline Program

• Where low-income consumer advocates see the program advancing the goals of universal service• Focus on the household instead of the house• Creating a floor for eligibility criteria• Movement toward a more uniform Lifeline program

helps “brand” the program• Intentional movement towards a portable Lifeline benefit• Movement towards more flexibility for consumers to

apply Lifeline to bundles and family plans (caveat: voluntary for ETCs) PLUS clear rules re preservation of voice service in the case of partial payments

• Low-income BB pilots and digital literacy

2

Where We See Barriers and Risk of Loss • The program has gone through a serious overhaul w/ big

changes: e.g., new application and documentation requirement and verification process (for all LL recipients), and changes to eligibility

• Numerous certifications; datafields; one-per-household worksheet(group housing; doubling-up; temp housing)

• New rules re duplicates and processes re dups (in-depth data valuations and the NLAD database) and de-enrollment (4 ways to de-enroll)

• Notice and disclosure obligations on ETCs, but could become boilerplate.

• Need aggressive and robust outreach and edu, but funding is an issue for CBOs and others who are on the frontline.

3

What is covered by Lifeline? Current/Old Lifeline

• Lifeline is a discount on basic local phone service.

• The federal Lifeline benefit is up to $10.00, but varies by phone carrier (tiers of support).

• There are landline and wireless carriers who participate in the program (ETCs).

New Lifeline

• “Voice telephony service”; expands past “local” service.

• Set support amount ($9.25)

• Permits carriers to allow LL benefit on all residential service packages that include voice, including bundles and family shared calling plans.

4

Who is eligible?Current/Old Lifeline• Eligibility varies from

state to state.• States can set

eligibility based solely on income or factors directly related to income.

• Federal default eligibility (8 states/2 territories)

• HH income at or below 135% FPG, or• Participation in Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, Federal

Public Housing Assistance; LIHEAP, TANF, NSL Free Lunch Program

New Lifeline

• All states must use, at a minimum, the federal default eligibility criteria (baseline eligibility).

• States may adopt additional program or income criteria.

• NPRM – WIC; establishing eligibility for homeless veterans

5

New Eligibility and Enrollment Highlights• One Lifeline Benefit Per “Household”• Doubling up/group housing process• Temporary address process• Moving towards automation for enrollment

and verification (Medicaid, SNAP, SSI)• Numerous certifications and

documentation required for all applicants • All Lifeline customers must verify

continued eligibility• New rules apply to the LI Broadband pilots

6

PrePaid Wireless Lifeline• Wireless Lifeline is fairly new, but extremely

popular• The wireless lifeline products vary, but prepaid is

the current form • Characteristics of common prepaid wireless

lifeline: federal Lifeline, no deposit, no monthly fees, subsidized minutes reloaded every month, set number of minutes, free handsets

• LL customer must activate service; 60-day inactivation procedure

• Portability of Lifeline will allow consumers to shop with their feet and hopefully put pressure on ETCs to provide better products.

7

54.405(e) 4 de-enrollment situations

• General situation: deference to state dispute resolution procedures

• Duplicates: ETCs must de-enroll if USAC flags a duplicate account (but need to ensure USAC has a good dispute resolution procedures: correctable denial and uncorrectable denials; concern re changing carriers)

• 60-day non-usage of prepaid wireless Lifeline: note the reporting requirement of number de-enrolled for this reason

• Failure to recertify (annual verification & 1-per-HH re-cert, and the temporary address recertification*) (*not in effect)

8

Duplicates and Database(s)• Process started in the states to check for

duplicate Lifeline support (in-depth data valuations) and will likely continue until duplicates database is operational.

• Moving to an automated check for duplicate benefits (National Lifeline Accountability Database)

• Need consumer’s consent to transmit info to USAC for the duplicates check

• SSNs (last 4 digits): privacy/security/limits access

• Temp/doubling up/group housing processes

9

Consumer information/data fields• 54.404(b)(6) NLAD• Full name• Full res’l address• DOB• SSN/tribal ID number (last 4)• Date service

initiated/terminated• Amount of support sought• How qualified

• 54.410(d)(2) applications• Full name• Full res’l address

– Temp/perm address– Check box if multiple HH at

address– Billing address if different

• DOB• SSN/tribal ID number (last 4)• If program eligible, which

program• If income eligible, how many

in HH

10

54.410(d)(3) certifications for new applicants

• Applicant meets eligibility criteria

• Duty to notify ETC if no longer eligible

• If applying for Tribal LL, lives on tribal land

• Duty to notify ETC if moves to new address

• If provided a temp address, duty to recertify every 90 days

• Household only receives one LL benefit

• Information is true and correct

• Consequences of providing false info

11

Key take-away

The outreach and education will be critical to mitigate loss in participation during this transition and moving forward.

•Documentation; certifications; timelines

•Understanding de-enrollment and the processes for correcting denials

•Duplicates/one-per-household/NLAD

2012 – annual re-certification of all existing LL customers; More guidance will be issued re 2013 and moving forward

12

Next Steps

• Low Income Broadband Pilots• Issues still under consideration• Eligibility Database (cost/ feasibility)

• Digital Literacy Program

• WIC

• Eligibility for Homeless Veterans

• Mandatory Application of Lifeline to Bundles

• Lifeline Support Amount

• Eligible Telecommunication Carrier Requirements

• Tribal Lands Support

• Other

13

For More Information

Olivia Wein, Staff AttorneyNational Consumer Law Center1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 510Washington, DC 20036202-452-6252owein@nclc.org

14