California considering undocumented immigrant access to cellphone subsidies

(The Center Square) -- The California Public Utilities Commision is voting later this month on whether to allow illegal immigrants to use the state’s cellphone subsidy program that makes most cellphone service plans either low cost or free, and self-fund and provide the additional federal subsidies undocumented immigrants are unable to qualify for.

If adopted, the new plan would allow individuals to use Mexican voter registration cards, foreign passports, consular identification cards, or AB 60 California drivers licenses issued to individuals not legally in the state to access the subsidies.

Because the program is funded by California phone subscribers with a $1.11 monthly surcharge on each phone line, non-subsidized residents would foot the bill for the expansion. The LifeLine program currently provides a $17.90 subsidy, in addition to a $9.25 federal subsidy applicants require a Social Security number for, to 1.14 million Californians, or a total of $370 million in subsidies per year.

“If an undocumented Californian falls on hard times, they should benefit from this program, just like every other Californian,” said Utilities Commission President and California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointee Alice Reynolds to Politico.

The California LifeLine program allows low-income residents to qualify for subsidized cell and landline plans that range from free (unlimited calls, texts, and 10 gigabytes of data) to $22.73 per month (unlimited high speed data, calls, and texts). Qualifying tribe members can receive free unlimited data, call, and text plans.

Last month, the U.S. News and World Report noted , “Many people meet their needs with just 3 to 5 GB,” suggesting the fee-free plans are more than sufficient for basic smartphone use.

Recipients who provide Social Security numbers qualify for an additional $100 million to $150 million in federal phone subsidies set aside for Californians, the CPUC says. The CPUC requested a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission in 2015 to be able to provide the equivalent of the federal subsidies to applicants who do not provide SSNs, but that waiver is still pending; in 2016, the FCC said it “no longer wished to support program rule exceptions for individual states.” It’s unclear what penalties the CPUC could face if it starts acting without FCC permission, such as the potential loss of its federal subsidies.

California LifeLine is currently funded by a surcharge on all phone lines in the state; General Order 153 outlines how the surcharge is created and updated to ensure the program remains entirely self-funded by phone line subscribers. Barring any rule or funding changes, this means increases in expenditures from expanding subsidy access, including self-funding the federal subsidy amount for applicants without SSNs, would likely have to be paid for by raising fees on non-subsidized phone subscribers.

Last month, California lawmakers passed a bill allowing illegal immigrants to make use of up to $150,000 in zero-down, zero-payment home “loans” that require recipients to pay the state back plus 20% of any appreciation in a home when it is transferred and sold. Newsom vetoed the bill, citing lack of funding, and the state’s budget situation; the program received zero in funding this year, and last year’s $255 million ran out in 11 days, funding just 1,700 applicants who were able to apply through a lottery program.