Tribal Reversal Likely Dooms FCC's Proposed Lifeline Reseller Ban, AEI's Lyons Says
The FCC's proposed Lifeline ban on resellers likely suffered a fatal blow when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit reversed the agency's reseller ban for enhanced tribal Lifeline support (see 1902010051), blogged American Enterprise Institute Visiting Fellow…
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Daniel Lyons Tuesday. "The pushback it received on that proposal, coupled with the DC Circuit’s rejection of the tribal subsidy limitation, probably means this reseller ban is a dead issue," he wrote, calling it "a positive development" because the reseller ban would likely "harm low-income consumers by reducing" Lifeline options. If the FCC pursues the issue, it must allow a new round of comments and provide a better explanation, he wrote: "The vacated order raised important questions about the potential for abuse of the tribal subsidy, particularly in urban areas where significant numbers of non-tribal households could benefit in ways not anticipated. ... Hopefully, another round of comments can develop a record sufficient to gauge the significance of this issue and help the agency right-size the tribal subsidy as part of its overall Lifeline reform project." The FCC declined comment. Lyons noted the judges also faulted the FCC for failing to provide adequate notice on its tribal proposals, despite giving parties two weeks to comment on a draft before an April 2017 meeting vote. For substantial rule changes, he noted, the court ruled "a 30-day comment period is generally the shortest time period sufficient for interested persons to meaningfully review a proposed rule and provide informed content." The 8th Circuit ruled similarly in August in finding the FCC didn't give parties adequate notice about business data service transport deregulation despite pre-meeting release of a draft (see 1808280050). The FCC Tuesday set new soft and hard launches of the Lifeline national verifier in a dozen states and jurisdictions (see 1902050039). Comments on consumer privacy issues are due March 7 on NV use of computer matching programs (see 1902050008).