[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 114 (Thursday, June 13, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35632-35634]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-14065]
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FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
[WC Docket No. 11-42; DA 13-1188]
Wireline Competition Bureau Provides Guidance Regarding the 2013
Lifeline Recertification Process
AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: In this document, the Wireline Competition Bureau (Bureau)
provides guidance regarding the 2013 Lifeline recertification process.
The Bureau clarifies that all active Lifeline subscribers enrolled or
recertified in a calendar year must be recertified the next calendar
year, and in every calendar year thereafter. The Bureau also describes
the process by which ETCs can elect to have the Universal Service
Administrative Company perform the recertification process.
DATES: Effective June 13, 2013.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jonathan Lechter, Wireline Competition
Bureau, (202) 418-7387 or TTY: (202) 418-0484.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a synopsis of the Wireline
Competition Bureau's Public Notice in WC Docket No. 11-42; DA 13-1188,
released May 22, 2013. The complete text of this document is available
for inspection and copying during normal business hours in the FCC
Reference Information Center, Portals II, 445 12th Street SW., Room CY-
A257, Washington, DC 20554. The document may also be purchased from the
Commission's duplicating contractor, Best Copy and Printing, Inc.
(BCPI), 445 12th Street SW., Room CY-B402, Washington, DC 20554,
telephone (800) 378-3160 or (202) 863-2893, facsimile (202) 863-2898,
or via the Internet at http://www.bcpiweb.com. It is also available on
the Commission's Web site at http://www.fcc.gov/document/wcb-provides-guidance-regarding-2013-lifeline-recertification-process.
I. Clarifications Regarding Recertification
1. On October 1, 2012, GCI filed a petition seeking clarification
of the recertification process after 2012 and the requirement that
subscribers be recertified ``annually.'' GCI argues that the Commission
should clarify that the subscribers subject to the annual
recertification are only those subscribers that have not provided an
initial certification in the same calendar year. GCI argues that
``annual'' means that ETCs recertify subscribers once every calendar
year, not every twelve months from the subscriber's initial
certification or last recertification. Most commenters agreed that
requiring recertification once each calendar year is the most
administratively efficient option and is consistent with the Lifeline
Reform Order, 77 FR 12784, March 2, 2012.
2. We agree with GCI and clarify that ETCs must recertify each new
subscriber in the calendar year following the year in which the
subscriber initially enrolled in the Lifeline program. We also clarify
that ETCs are required to recertify subscribers each calendar year. As
discussed in more detail below, if a subscriber is either initially
enrolled with or recertified by an ETC in a particular calendar year
(e.g., 2013), the subscriber must be recertified by that ETC the next
calendar year (e.g., 2014).
3. Permitting recertification during the next calendar year, after
both initial certification and recertification, is consistent with the
Commission's approach in the Lifeline Reform Order to balance the need
for a recertification
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requirement with minimizing the burden of the recertification process
on ETCs and consumers. In the Lifeline Reform Order, in order to
eliminate ineligible consumers from the program, the Commission
required ETCs to obtain proof of eligibility and certifications for all
new subscribers enrolled after June 1, 2012. Subscribers that signed up
prior to June 1, 2012, and therefore did not provide proof of
eligibility because that requirement was not yet effective, had to be
recertified by the end of 2012. Operating together, these two
requirements ensured that by the end of 2012, ETCs would obtain from
all subscribers either proof of eligibility or a certification from
each subscriber that he or she was eligible. As the Commission
explained, the recertification rule balances the need to identify and
de-enroll ineligible subscribers with imposing fewer burdens on ETCs
and consumers than other, more onerous, recertification requirements.
Consistent with that approach, this clarification that ETCs must
recertify Lifeline subscribers during the next calendar year balances
the importance of the recertification rule with minimizing the burdens
and costs on ETCs and consumers, while also providing ETCs with greater
flexibility to tailor the recertification process to their particular
business processes.
4. Next, in order to provide additional guidance to ETCs and to
further reduce the burden on ETCs, consumers, and USAC, we direct ETCs
to use the FCC Form 497 filed in February of each year to establish the
baseline of subscribers who must be recertified. To illustrate, an ETC
must recertify in 2013 all subscribers enrolled prior to January 1,
2013 and for which the ETC sought reimbursement on its February 2013
Form 497. We conclude that a snapshot of consumers remains necessary to
facilitate the recertification process, and in the absence of a
snapshot with a stated baseline of subscribers subject to
recertification, it would be difficult for the Commission or auditors
to determine the number of subscribers subject to recertification or
how many subscribers de-enrolled prior to the recertification attempt.
A snapshot also provides a way to closely compare the number of
subscribers subject to recertification and the number of subscribers
de-enrolled for non-usage by month. When the Commission instituted the
recertification requirement in the Lifeline Reform Order, it
implemented a similar snapshot requirement for ETCs by requiring ETCs
to use the May 2012 Form 497. While this snapshot was appropriate for
the initial recertification round for the reasons described above,
using an ETC's February Form 497 going forward ensures that nearly all
subscribers subject to recertification in 2013 (i.e., those that
enrolled or recertified prior to January 1, 2013) are included in the
snapshot. A snapshot taken early in the year also allows ETCs the
flexibility of starting their recertification process sooner and
permits ETCs to further space-out the process as resources permit. We
also conclude that a February snapshot, unlike a snapshot from December
31 of the prior year, ensures that subscribers de-enrolled from the
prior year's recertification process will not be subject to
recertification in 2013. This same February snapshot will apply to
subsequent years.
5. Finally, we note that Sprint supports an option that would allow
ETCs to recertify subscribers within twelve months from a subscriber's
enrollment or anniversary date. Sprint argues that allowing this
approach, in addition to a once per calendar year approach, will
minimize subscriber confusion and be less administratively burdensome.
The approach we adopt herein does not preclude an ETC from recertifying
its subscribers every twelve months, and we encourage Sprint and other
ETCs to recertify subscribers as soon and as often as is practicable,
consistent with the clarifications we provide herein. For the reasons
set forth above, however, we require only that a subscriber be
recertified during the calendar year following the year in which the
subscriber initially enrolled in the Lifeline program or was last
recertified.
II. USAC Recertification Process
6. Starting in 2013, ETCs have the option of having USAC conduct
the annual recertification process on their behalf. The Commission
delegated to the Bureau the authority to establish, in coordination
with USAC, a process for USAC to recertify subscribers. We describe
this process below.
7. USAC will recertify subscribers by mailing each subscriber a
letter that provides the subscriber the notice required by section
54.405(e)(4) of the Commission's rules, informing the subscriber that
the subscriber has 30 days to recertify the subscriber's continued
eligibility to receive Lifeline service or the subscriber will be de-
enrolled from the Lifeline program. The letter will also explain the
recertification process and how the subscriber may confirm his or her
eligibility. Subscribers will also receive a call or text message
during the 30-day period to prompt a response. Any subscriber response
submitted after the 30-day deadline will not be processed and the
subscriber will be considered ineligible for the program and will be
de-enrolled.
8. USAC will provide subscribers with three methods to respond to
the letter and recertify their eligibility. First, USAC will accept
consumer calls made to a toll-free number, during which consumers will
be able to recertify eligibility through an Inter-Active Voice Response
(IVR). Second, USAC will allow consumers to verify their identity, read
the certification language, and submit a response indicating they are
recertifying their eligibility through a Web site maintained by USAC.
Third, subscribers may also recertify by signing a recertification form
provided by USAC and mailing the signed form to a receiving address
designated by USAC.
9. ETCs must provide notice to USAC that they will elect the USAC
recertification process by June 21, 2013. ETCs not making an election
by the deadline will be presumed to have not elected to use USAC. The
election is final for 2013 and will remain in place for future years
unless affirmatively revoked by the ETC. This election must be made on
an operating company basis and applies to all states and study area
codes covered by the operating company.
10. ETCs that elect to have USAC recertify their Lifeline
subscribers must provide USAC with a subscriber list based on their
February 2013 Form 497 in a standardized format by July 15, 2013, that
includes first name, last name, address, Lifeline telephone number,
date of birth, and last four digits of social security number for each
subscriber (in order to validate the certifications received). To the
extent that a state agency conducts recertification for all or a
portion of an ETC's subscribers, the ETC may not elect to utilize USAC
for recertifying those subscribers subject to recertification by the
state agency. Therefore, prior to transmittal to USAC, the ETC should
remove from its subscriber list those subscribers that are subject to
the state agency's recertification process. Each ETC that selects USAC
to perform the recertification process will provide a toll-free number
that USAC can provide to the ETC's consumers who have questions about
their service.
11. USAC will complete the recertification process over a series of
months, by grouping the ETCs that elect to have USAC complete the
process into phases so that the influx of responses can be staggered.
This grouping will be
[[Page 35634]]
done randomly and staggered based upon USAC capacity.
12. USAC will compile the responses and provide each ETC with a
record of the subscriber recertification. USAC will provide each ETC
with a list of subscribers that did not recertify, and therefore must
be de-enrolled, and provide ETCs with sufficient information to compile
their FCC Form 555 at least 30 days before the annual January 31 due
date. ETCs must de-enroll subscribers within five days of receiving
notice that the subscriber has failed to recertify. As noted above, all
active subscribers enrolled in Lifeline prior to 2013 and for which the
ETC sought reimbursement on its February 2013 Form 497 are subject to
recertification in 2013.
13. We conclude that good cause exists to make the procedures
established in this Public Notice effective immediately upon
publication in the Federal Register, pursuant to section 553(d)(3) of
the Administrative Procedure Act. We find good cause based on the need
for the procedures to be in place and available to ETCs in time for
ETCs to be able to submit their elections to USAC, and provide USAC
with a subscriber list in time to comply with the procedures we adopt
here.
III. Final Regulatory Flexibility Certification
14. The Regulatory Flexibility Act (``RFA'') requires that agencies
prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis for notice-and-comment
rulemaking proceedings, unless the agency certifies that ``the rule
will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of
small entities. The RFA generally defines ``small entity'' as having
the same meaning as the terms ``small business,'' ``small
organization,'' and ``small governmental jurisdiction.'' In addition,
the term ``small business'' has the same meaning as the term ``small
business concern'' under the Small Business Act. A small business
concern is one which (1) is independently owned and operated; (2) is
not dominant in its field of operation; and (3) satisfies any
additional criteria established by the Small Business Administration
(SBA).
15. We hereby certify that the clarification and procedures
announced in this Public Notice will not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities. In this Public
Notice, the Commission eases the regulatory compliance burden on ETCs
by allowing for greater flexibility to recertify their subscribers and
by outlining the procedures for ETCs to have USAC perform
recertifications on their behalf. This Public Notice does not modify
any of our reporting requirements. The Commission will send a copy of
this Public Notice, including this certification, to the Chief Counsel
for Advocacy of the SBA. In addition, the Public Notice (or a summary
thereof) and certification will be published in the Federal Register.
Federal Communications Commission.
Kimberly A. Scardino,
Division Chief, Telecommunications Access Policy Division Wireline
Competition Bureau.
[FR Doc. 2013-14065 Filed 6-12-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6712-01-P