DC PSC Chairman Seeks State-Federal Coordination on Lifeline National Verifier

The PSC has played “a minor role in federal proceedings,” but the D.C. commission plans to set up an external affairs office including dedicated staff for engaging with federal agencies, he said. The office is part of a new PSC focus on community engagement, which Phillips set as one of his three top priorities, he said. The other two are grid modernization and infrastructure investment.

With the National Verifier rolling out across the country, “the right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing,” said Phillips. “There’s this federal program that could potentially have an impact on our customers if they’re decertified at the federal level, and there’s not an opportunity to remain on our state program,” he said. But there has been little “coordination between the states and the federal third-party verifier,” Phillips said. “We’ve reached out to them informally to try to have a dialogue. We really haven’t gotten where I think we need to be because the program has been launched and we haven’t really had a chance to voice our concerns.”

Seniors and low-income District residents rely on Lifeline discounts, and Phillips wants to “make sure our customers aren’t left in the cold if they can’t be on the federal program,” he said. The PSC chairman agrees with the need to be a “good steward” of federal funds and fight waste, fraud and abuse, but he also doesn’t want “to throw the baby out with the bathwater,” he said. Also, the D.C. PSC chair wants to do more consumer education to raise awareness of the Lifeline program and other available benefits, he said.

The District's NV hard launch is May 7, the FCC announced Friday. The NV will also be required that day for eligibility determinations in Alaska, American Samoa, Delaware, Maine, the Northern Mariana Islands, Rhode Island and the U.S. Virgin Islands, the FCC said. The Universal Service Administrative Co. held state NV trainings last month in Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan, which all soft launched March 12, said the USAC website. The administrator says it's tackling NV issues raised by states and provider (see 1903190063). The FCC and USAC didn’t comment Friday.

Phillips said he will support 5G wireless deployment in the District. The PSC doesn’t regulate wireless services, but the District years ago reverse pre-empted the FCC for pole-attachment authority. FCC Chairman Ajit Pai sent a letter Aug. 30 to then-PSC Chairman Kane encouraging the District to replicate the FCC’s decision to require one-touch, make-ready rules. The PSC “will soon issue a notice of proposed rulemaking that will present revised pole attachment rules for public comment,” said Phillips aide Cary Hinton. The D.C. Department of Transportation Public Space Committee voted 5-0 last month for small-cell design guidelines.

With Verizon amid an IP transition in D.C. from its legacy copper network, the PSC is “here to make sure that whatever services are left for those legacy customers are at the level that we determine that they need to be,” said Phillips. “We have no control over anything that’s related to fiber … and we’re not trying to play in that space … but we’re still here focused on service.” Also, the PSC is meeting with Verizon and other utilities about how to protect critical infrastructure in a disaster, he said.

“This is the best job of my professional life,” said Phillips. “As a commissioner, I don’t think you have a full view of the scope that the chair position has,” including “approving all the functions of the commission on top of being a commissioner” and being “the voice of the commission,” he said.