IV. Automatic Enrollment

In its Order, the FCC encourages all states to adopt automatic enrollment as a means of certifying that consumers are eligible for Lifeline/Link-Up. The FCC made this suggestion on the basis of a recommendation by the Federal-State Joint Board on Universal Service (Joint Board). On December 21, 2000, the FCC requested that the Joint Board review the Lifeline/Link-Up program for all low-income customers. The Joint Board issued its Recommended Decision on April 2, 2003. In its Recommended Decision, the Joint Board recommended several changes to improve the effectiveness of the low-income support mechanism; automatic enrollment was one of those changes.

In its Recommended Decision, the Joint Board observes that participation in Lifeline/Link-Up increased in states that employed automatic enrollment, aggressive outreach, and intrastate multi-agency cooperation. The FCC agrees with the Joint Board that automatic enrollment may facilitate participation in Lifeline/Link-Up. However, the FCC reiterates the Joint Board's conclusion that implementation of automatic enrollment could impose significant administrative, technological, and financial burdens on states and ETCs. The FCC recognizes the benefits of automatic enrollment, but also recognizes that requiring automatic enrollment may deter ETCs from participating in the Lifeline/Link-Up program because of the technical requirements associated with interfacing with government agencies or third party administrators.

The FCC declines to require states to adopt automatic enrollment at this time, but encourages those states that currently do not employ automatic enrollment to consider states that operate automatic enrollment as a model for future implementation.

We ask parties to provide information on how automatic enrollment works in other states and to comment on whether it is feasible to implement automatic enrollment in California.