Lifeline API, Related NV Worries Persist

amid problems. The NV is midway through a state-by-state launch and is designed to make signup and reverification more automatic. Those on the front lines see growing pains and worry the poor could be incorrectly excluded (see 190726004). Concerns involve incomplete access to databases of government programs for low-income Americans that would quickly confirm eligibility, plus kinks in a new test application programming interface. Vermont asked the FCC for a six-month extension of its scheduled Oct. 23 hard launch. The state and Universal Service Administrative Co. “have been diligently negotiating a data-sharing agreement” to automatically process Lifeline applications, nonpartisan Vermont Public Utility Commissioners Sarah Hofmann and June Tierney wrote in Thursday's waiver request in FCC docket 17-287. “Unfortunately, the agreement is not in place yet, and without it, Vermont's Lifeline-eligible applicants risk having to verify their eligibility for Lifeline manually, a process more labor-intensive and prone to error than an automated one.” The New York Public Service Commission sought waiver of the state’s Oct. 23 hard launch deadline earlier last week (see 1910070068). The Public Utility Law Project worries the FCC will look at the request and decide that granting waivers “will derail their progress," said PULP Executive Director Richard Berkley. FCC goals “shouldn’t override facts on the ground, but this agency doesn’t seem too concerned about that stuff.” California Commissioner Genevieve Shiroma has “concerns with a federal administrator given the sharp decreases in participation that have resulted from the National Verifier in the states that have moved to the system so far,” emailed Shiroma, appointed this year by Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). The FCC hasn’t set launch dates there. California PUC Commissioner Martha Guzman Aceves told the FCC the NV shouldn’t come until it has Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program database access. Continued rollout "is critical to reducing waste, fraud, and abuse in the Lifeline program," an FCC spokesperson emailed Thursday. "Establishing automated connections to federal and state eligibility databases is key to the efficient and effective operation of the Verifier, and the FCC has been actively pursuing these connections." An automated connection to national Medicaid, announced last month (see 1909180026), means up to 60 percent of Lifeline-eligible customers can be quickly verified, she said. "The FCC has also established automated connections with 12 states so far, with more on the way. We have long been, and continue to be, open to working with any state that seeks to establish such a connection." USAC declined to comment.