The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC’s) Wireline Competition Bureau has issued an order that revokes an “opt-out” that enabled the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to use its own process for verifying that applicants to the federal Lifeline program are entitled to participate in the program.
The FCC’s press release says that the legislation recently signed by Governor Gavin Newsom makes it illegal to collect Social Security numbers, which are used to verify eligibility for the Lifeline program. This, the press release says, makes it “effectively impossible” for the state to comply with the law.
“These changes in law come on the heels of California making it clear that they will not be vetting beneficiaries of their programs based on legal status,” FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said in a press release about the Lifeline decision.
“California also has a bad track record of complying with federal Lifeline program rules. Therefore, the FCC is revoking California’s ‘opt-out’ status and will now require federal Lifeline applicants in California to comply with the federal verification process that applies in nearly every other state. Federal dollars should not pay for California’s abuse of the Lifeline program.”
The Lifeline program helps millions of low-income citizens afford phone and Internet services. The press release says that, in the future the National Verifier process will conduct eligibility verifications and the National Lifeline Accountability Database will perform duplicate checks for applicants.
California Assemblymember Tasha Boerner — who introduced a low-cost internet plan in California that was ultimately dropped due to the Trump administration’s changes to the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) Program — told Telecompetitor, “California follows federal law to get federal Lifeline dollars, and recent state legislation did not touch the federal program — just California’s own program.
“The FCC’s unnecessary and retaliatory change of policy could put all of California’s 1.7 million low-income Lifeline subscribers at risk of losing access. While we all share the goal of reducing waste, fraud and abuse, in California we won’t scapegoat our immigrant communities to distract from the cost of living crisis.”
The California Lifeline website appears to use complete or partial Social Security numbers. For instance, a sample document at the site says that “Acceptable proof includes a photo ID issued by a government or tribal agency with your date of birth or Social Security number.” The sample document is from 2022 but is still on the site.
Likewise, the application form for the program asks for the last four numbers of the applicant’s Social Security number. The form apparently is for this year.
