FCC Signals to Some It's Backing Down on Lifeline National Verification Deadline
FCC staff, announcing the next states to get soft rollouts of a national verifier of Lifeline eligibility, appeared to some stakeholders to have given more time than the agency had previously planned for the move. States and others had been calling for that for many months. The NV rollout will start Monday in Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin, said a Wireline Bureau public notice. Earlier Monday, an FCC enforcement advisory said it emphasized eligible telecom carriers (ETCs) getting government money for the broadband and phone service program "remain responsible for claiming Lifeline support only for eligible low-income consumers."
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Under the new timeline in the WB PN, there would be two additional weeks for the Lifeline verification to begin on the mandatory basis, if it were to start in 2019 as the commission had previously planned (see paragraph 164). It's unlikely now the commission will meet the Dec. 31 timeline. That's what we heard from the few who had feedback after we queried stakeholders in Washington, D.C., and state commissions and their commissioners and public advocates in those five states, plus in California, Oregon and Texas.
California, Oregon and Texas states also appear not to have hard launch dates (see 1910230057). The FCC and Universal Service Administrative Co. declined to comment.
The soft launch period lets ETCs "become familiar with the" NV and "adjust and test their systems and business processes before use ... becomes mandatory," said the PN. ETCs in Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin "shouldn't begin any recertifications for Lifeline subscribers as of December 16," it said. "Finish any currently open recertifications for Lifeline subscribers in these states no later than February 21."
NARUC thinks the FCC should have delayed mandating any state use the NV until after the agency began service provider application programming interfaces, electronic access to state databases and ensures "federal/state Medicaid databases are available to confirm subscriber eligibility," emailed a spokesperson. The FCC "made significant progress" by connecting key federal and some state databases and rolling out an API, she added. "But more state database connections are needed. The only data the FCC has in hand show an undeniable negative impact on qualified applicants in states that lack state database connections."
The Dec. 16 NV soft start in Florida, Illinois, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin "does effectively, push off the hard launch in those five states and makes sense," the NARUC spokesperson emailed. An industry official said similar.
Oregon is "in discussions with the FCC and USAC" on the NV, emailed a representative for its Public Utility Commission. "There are currently no details available" on when it may launch there, she added. State commissions in the five states subject of the new rollout notice plus California and Texas didn't comment by early evening.
The FCC has the national Lifeline accountability database and the NV "to enhance the overall integrity of the Lifeline program and combat waste, fraud, and abuse," the EB advisory noted. It "reiterates these efforts do not relieve ETCs of their responsibilities to submit accurate claims for Lifeline reimbursement." The database and the verifier don't create a safe harbor "that relieves ETCs of their responsibility for only claiming Lifeline consumers who are actually eligible for the program under the Commission’s rules," EB wrote.