What's happening
This bill requires New York to identify assistance programs qualifying recipients for discounted telephone Lifeline service and expands funding requirements.
Why it matters
Expands who qualifies for discounted phone service. by requiring New York to recognize a wide range of federal and state assistance programs—including Medicaid, food stamps, SSI, state tax credits, and others—as qualifying for Lifeline, making the service more accessible to low-income individuals and families.
Allows the state to add new qualifying programs. in the future, giving the Public Service Commission the flexibility to quickly adapt eligibility to changing social assistance landscapes and reach more people in need.
Ensures people not enrolled in assistance programs can still qualify. for Lifeline based on income or other directly related financial factors, potentially covering low-income individuals who might fall through the cracks of traditional benefits programs.
Requires cable companies offering telephone service to contribute funding. for Lifeline and related programs, spreading financial responsibility across more providers and potentially strengthening the sustainability and reach of these essential services.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Expand Lifeline Phone Access
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Assembly Member · Assembly District 25
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to corporations, authorities and commissions
- Referred to corporations, authorities and commissions
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Expand Lifeline Phone Access
In Senate Committee · Energy And Telecommunications · Sponsor Leroy Comrie
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
3785
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 31, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. ROZIC -- read once and referred to the Committee on Corporations, Authorities and Commissions
AN ACT to amend the public service law, in relation to providing for the identification of federal and state assistance programs which qualify recipients for telephone Lifeline service
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. The public service law is amended by adding a new section 92-i to read as follows:
§ 92-i. Qualification for telephone Lifeline service. 1. The commission shall adopt rules and regulations, in accordance with federal laws and regulations, which would require that every telephone corporation offering a retail local service that is defined pursuant to subpart e of part fifty-four of title forty-seven of the code of federal regulations as a Lifeline service and receiving federal universal service support pursuant to such subpart for such service provide such service to all customers who are identified by such company through customer supplied information or through information supplied by a third party as a participant or eligible to be a participant in:
(a) any of the following federal or state assistance programs:
(i) medicaid,
(ii) food stamps,
(iii) supplemental security income,
(iv) low-income home energy assistance,
(v) state family assistance,
(vi) state safety net assistance,
(vii) veteran's disability pension,
(viii) veteran's surviving spouse pension,
(ix) national school lunch program,
(x) state earned income tax credit, or
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01117-01-9
A. 3785 2
(xi) child health plus, as a recipient of free or subsidized health coverage, or family health plus; or
(b) such additional federal or state assistance programs as may be designated by the commission as a program that will qualify the participant for such Lifeline rate.
2. The commission shall adopt rules and regulations, in accordance with federal laws and regulations, establishing eligibility criteria for consumers that are not enrolled in federal or state assistance programs that would qualify such consumers for such Lifeline rate. For the purposes of this section, the commission shall use solely income or other factors directly related to income in determining the eligibility criteria.
3. The commission will also establish rules requiring every cable television company, as defined in section two hundred twelve of this chapter that provides telephone service to customers in New York, to contribute to the targeted assistance fund to help support companies that choose to offer Lifeline service to their customers.
4. For purposes of this section, the "targeted assistance fund" is a fund created in public service commission case 06-02-1998, and was designed by the commission to fund programs such as Lifeline, emergency services (E911), and the Telecommunications Relay Service for the hearing impaired (TRS), on a competitively neutral basis.
§ 2. This act shall take effect January 1, 2020.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.