By Francesca Nevil
On October 17, 2024, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) will hold a meeting to vote on ALJ Robyn Purchia’s proposed decision on R.20-02-008, which approves updates to the California Universal LifeLine Telephone Service Program (California LifeLine). This decision proposes that California LifeLine should extend eligibility to Californians without a Social Security Number (SSN) by updating its application and renewal forms to remove language requiring SSNs and allowing applicants to submit additional identifying documents besides a driver’s license and passport.
In March of 2024, the CPUC issued a report on the California LifeLine program. The program has been around since 1984, when the CPUC established the program as the Moore Universal Telephone Service Act (Public Utilities Code § 871) (Moore Act) to provide discounted basic residential (landline) telephone services to low-income households. In 2012, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) revised the program to require the last four digits of an applicant’s social security numbers to receive the federal subsidy. The FCC decision required updates to the Moore Act. Thus, in D.14-01-036, the CPUC authorized eligible Californians without SSNs to participate in California LifeLine, and filed a waiver petition with the FCC in 2015.
In practice, however, Californians are still required to have SSNs to verify their eligibility through other social service programs, such as CalFresh. In August 2023, the CPUC received a letter from the nonprofit organization Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles (NLSLA) requesting immediate implementation of D.14-01-036 regarding extending California LifeLine eligibility to Californians without an SSN.
As of December 2023, an all-end-user surcharge funds the LifeLine program to help 1.2 million low-income households get free or discounted cell services. The program eliminates some local, state, and federal cell service fees and offers qualifying participants discounts of up to $19 monthly and up to $39 off a service connection. If approved on October 17th, the proposed expansion may significantly increase accessibility to these program benefits for Californians without social security numbers.