Later this month, the California Public Utilities Commission will vote on whether to make the state’s cellphone subsidy program, which makes most cellphone service plans either cheap or free, available to illegal immigrants. The program would allow them to self-fund and receive additional federal subsidies that undocumented immigrants are not eligible for.
If passed, the new plan would expand eligibility for the subsidies to include voter registration cards from Mexico, passports from other countries, consular identification cards, and California driver’s licenses granted under AB 60 to those who are not lawful residents of the state.
The expansion would be paid for by non-subsidized residents, as the program is financed by a $1.11 monthly premium on each phone line that California phone consumers pay. There are 1.14 million Californians who get $17.90 in subsidies through the LifeLine program each year. This is on top of the $9.25 in federal subsidies that applicants are required to contribute, for a total of $370 million.
Utilities Commission President and new appointee of California Governor Gavin Newsom, Alice Reynolds, told Politico, “If an undocumented Californian falls on hard times, they should benefit from this program, just like every other Californian.” So said Reynolds.
From free (unlimited calls, texts, and 10 GB of data) to $22.73 (unlimited high-speed data, calls, and texts) per month, low-income Californians can enroll in subsidized cell and landline plans through the LifeLine program. Tribal members who meet the requirements can get free plans that include unlimited data, calls, and texts.
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“Many people meet their needs with just 3 to 5 GB,” U.S. News & World Report said last month, implying that the free plans are more than enough for basic smartphone use.
According to the CPUC, an extra $100 million to $150 million in federal phone subsidies are available to Californians if recipients disclose their Social Security numbers. To enable the CPUC to offer applicants without SSNs the same federal subsidies, the commission sought a waiver in 2015. However, the request is still pending, and in 2016, the FCC stated that it “no longer wished to support program rule exceptions for individual states.” The consequences that the CPUC may face, such as the possible revocation of its government funding, if it begins to operate without the approval of the FCC are not yet known.
The current funding mechanism for California LifeLine is a premium on all state phone lines. General Order 153 details the process of creating and updating the surcharge, which guarantees that the program will continue to be self-funded by phone line subscribers. The expansion of subsidy access, including the possibility of applicants without SSNs self-financing the government subsidy amount, would likely need a rise in prices for non-subsidized phone users in order to cover the increased costs, barring any changes to funding or rules.
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A bill was passed by the California legislature last month that would enable undocumented immigrants to access housing “loans” of up to $150,000 with no down payment required. The receivers would be required to repay the state plus 20% of the home’s value upon transfer and sale. The program did not receive any financing this year, and last year’s $255 million ran out in 11 days, paying only 1,700 candidates who were allowed to apply through a lottery mechanism, thus Newsom rejected the bill, blaming the state’s budget problems.