Texas PUC to Resist Lifeline Provider Concerns at FCC
Texas' Public Utility Commission disagrees with Lifeline providers telling the FCC the PUC's Texas Low-Income Discount Administrator (LIDA) process is preventing reimbursement and hurting low-income consumers. Texas commissioners voted 3-0 at a Thursday meeting livestreamed from Austin to clear staff comments due July 10 at the FCC on a National Lifeline Association (NaLA) petition to revoke Texas’ opt-out of the national Lifeline accountability (NLAD) (see 2006110023).
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Texas commissioners cleared Chairman DeAnn Walker to work with staff on non-substantive changes to June 26 draft comments before the agency files at the FCC. Walker sought to add “more emphasis to why Texas has an interest.” NaLA asked Wednesday in case 50929 to revise the comments to effectively affirm it would fix the problem the association raised at the FCC about one month ago. Walker said, “We’re trying to at least talk to them about their concerns -- after the [FCC] petition was filed, instead of before.” Walker asked other commissioners to make any comments behind closed doors since it's "a pending legal action."
It's one of three states, with California and Oregon, the FCC allowed to opt out of the NLAD in 2012. Texas promised it would provide equivalent services and functionality but “has always lagged” the NLAD since its 2014 implementation, and Lifeline eligible telecom carriers face FCC fines due to Texas practices, said NaLA counsel John Heitmann in an interview.
ETCs use a monthly Universal Service Administrative Co. snapshot of NLAD-enrolled subscribers to claim Lifeline reimbursements in most states. Starting in January, USAC started working with opt-out states to get an equivalent list. Texas’ end-of-month report shows only subscribers enrolled by the middle of the month, so Lifeline ETCs continuing to sign up customers in the second half of the month may be denied reimbursement because those subscribers aren't listed in the Texas report, said Heitmann.
Texas "has worked diligently and cooperatively" with the FCC "to ensure the success and integrity of the Lifeline program” and “has been fully transparent" on LIDA, countered PUC staff in draft comments. Since it has a state Lifeline discount, separating federal and state application and eligibility review processes would be “confusing and inefficient” for residents, staff said. USAC and the FCC declined comment. Lifeline consumer advocates also didn't comment.
"When Lifeline-eligible Texans are treated worse under LIDA than Oklahomans are treated under NLAD, they are surely harmed,” NaLA replied. “Since September 2017, the number of Texans receiving federal-only Lifeline benefits has plummeted by 47.4%, whereas Oklahomans benefited from NLAD and saw Lifeline enrollments drop only 12.3%. In California, another NLAD opt-out state, LifeLine enrollments dropped 9.3%.” Texas identity and address verifications fail 19 times more often than NLAD verifications, it said.
Eligibility reporting “came to a head" in April when the FCC tagged TracFone with a $6 million notice of apparent liability (see 2006260068), Heitmann said. It said TracFone violated the rules for claiming more subscribers than were shown in the Texas end-of-the-month report, the NaLA lawyer said. In May, USAC sent letters to Texas ETCs saying they owed money for claimed subscribers that weren't reported, he said.
It would be inconsistent with Lifeline rules to tell customers who subscribe in the second half of the month that they can't have service right away, and it's unfair and uneconomic to require ETCs to provide a month's worth of service without reimbursement for many subscribers, Heitmann said.
PUC staff said NaLa’s petition contains “inaccuracies.” USAC staff visited the PUC in March 2019 for two days to review the state Lifeline administrator's process and "found the Texas LIDA design and approach to be satisfactory,” and the FCC Wireline Bureau said in a Dec. 18 public notice opt-out states operate alternative systems to NLAD that prevent duplicative federal support, recalled the draft.
NaLA is open to working with the state agency to require LIDA adopt systems and process changes to produce a report that’s truly equivalent to the NLAD snapshot, said Heitmann. Meantime, confirm it's “reasonable for ETCs to base federal disbursement claims on LIDA’s current end-of-the-month report, plus LIDA API approvals for subscribers missing from that report, minus subscribers on a monthly LIDA de-enroll report,” he said. ETCs earlier were in touch with Texas administrator (LIDA) and vendor Solix about their concerns, but problems remain unresolved, Heitmann said.
Alternatively, the FCC revoking Texas’ opt-out would fix the problem retroactively, if based on a finding that Texas' end-of-the-month report isn't equivalent to the NLAD snapshot report, said Heitmann. NaLA discussed the issue with legal advisers to all five commissioners and Wireline Bureau Telecom Access Policy Division Deputy Chief Jodie Griffin, he said.
“TracFone will file supportive comments” at the FCC, a spokesperson emailed.