Lawmakers Introduce Legislation to Modernize Lifeline Assistance Program

Sen Chris Murphy (D-CT), Sen Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Rep Doris Matsui (D-CA) introduced legislation to reform and modernize the Universal Service Fund (USF) Lifeline Assistance Program -- which currently subsidizes basic landline and mobile phone services for low-income Americans -- by making subsidies for broadband Internet services also available to eligible households. The Broadband Adoption Act of 2015, which is cosponsored by Sens Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ed Markey (D-MA), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), will instruct the Federal Communications Commission to establish a broadband Lifeline Assistance program and will help bridge the digital divide by making in-home online services more affordable across the country. The introduction of the Broadband Adoption Act comes just days after the FCC announced a new effort to usher the Lifeline Program into the Internet Age. Sens Murphy, Booker, and Rep Matsui praised the FCC’s proposal, and hope that the FCC, which has the authority to update the Lifeline Program on its own, makes subsidized Internet access available to tens of millions low-income Americans. Key Provisions of the Broadband Adoption Act of 2015:

• The bill directs the FCC to establish a broadband Lifeline Assistance program that provides low-income Americans living in rural and urban areas with assistance in subscribing to affordable broadband service.
• The proposal would require the FCC, in calculating the amount of support, to routinely study the prevailing market price for service and the prevailing speed adopted by consumers of broadband service.
• The bill is technology neutral to promote competition from broadband service providers under the program.
• The bill allows eligible consumers to choose how they would like their Lifeline support -- whether for broadband, mobile, basic telephone services or a bundle of these services. The bill clarifies that eligible households will qualify for only one lifeline support amount for one of those functions, not for multiple purposes.
• The bill requires the FCC to establish a national database to determine consumer eligibility for Lifeline and to prevent duplication.
• The bill encourages the FCC to consider providing a preference to participating broadband service providers that include components involving digital literacy programs as part of their offerings.
• In response to the recent GAO report on Lifeline, the bill requires the FCC to perform annual performance reports of the Lifeline broadband program. It also requires the GAO to conduct another analysis of the Lifeline program one year after the date of enactment of the bill.
• Eligible households must meet federal low-income guidelines or qualify for one of a handful of social service programs including, but not limited to: SNAP, Head Start, WIC, National School Lunch Program, Tribal TANF or Medicaid.