New Calif. Commissioners Raise Concerns About Lifeline Changes

the item, which aligned several aspects of the programs but left the proceeding open to act later on others. The order continues discounts and reimbursements for service connection and activation charges for California wireless services, capped at $39 for two years; adds a 60-day portability freeze to reduce churn among California LifeLine providers and implements the federal 60-day port freeze for voice services, CPUC President Michael Picker said. The agency later will address remaining matters including eligibility criteria and implementing a 12-month port freeze for broadband internet access service. The FCC granted California a waiver of its Dec. 2 federal Lifeline deadline until June 1 on port freeze requirements and Oct. 31 on eligibility rules. While agreeing it’s important to harmonize the programs, the two new commissioners -- Clifford Rechtschaffen and Martha Guzman Aceves -- said they worried about the 80,000 California households that staff found could lose eligibility under the new rules. They won’t lose eligibility right away and other programs may render them eligible or otherwise fill in the gap, but Rechtschaffen plans to monitor the impact of the rule changes, he said. Aceves said she’s “particularly bothered” about eliminating eligibility criteria but hopes to work on the issue with other commissioners as the proceeding continues. Consumer groups earlier warned commissioners not to lose focus on consumers while aligning the low-income programs (see 1701110032). The new commissioners have energy backgrounds and aren’t expected to focus much on telecom matters (see 1701030043). Ex-Commissioner Catherine Sandoval, who previously led the Lifeline proceeding, attended Thursday’s meeting and gave a thumbs-up after the Lifeline vote, CPUC Picker revealed from the dais.