Dear Inequality Insights reader,
About 10 years ago, the California Public Utilities Commission decided they should stop requesting Social Security numbers from low-income residents applying to obtain subsidized cellphone service. Then, the commission never actually stopped requesting the information.
CalMatters Reporter Alejandra Reyes-Velarde reported in February that the cellphone program, California LifeLine, still excludes hundreds of thousands of people who don’t have Social Security numbers immediately available. That includes undocumented immigrants, unhoused individuals who might have had their documents taken during an encampment sweep, people fleeing domestic violence, and foster youth who don’t have their birth certificates.
Now the CPUC has proposed to finally update its application and renewal forms to remove language requiring Social Security numbers and allow applicants to submit additional identifying documents besides a driver’s license and passport. Applicants will also be able to submit current foreign government identification documents. There will be a comment period and possible vote next month before the changes can be implemented, said Ashley Salas, an attorney with the consumer group, The Utility Reform Network.
The Lifeline program helps 1.2 million low-income households get free or discounted cell services. It eliminates some local, state, and federal cell service fees and offers qualifying participants discounts of up to $19 monthly and up to $39 off a service connection.
People who already qualify for certain government programs may be eligible for the discounts. Anyone already enrolled in a public assistance program, such as Medicaid and Medi-Cal, Section 8 housing, or CalFresh, qualifies for Lifeline, the Los Angeles Times reported. Qualification can also be income-based. A family of four would qualify for the subsidy if they have an annual gross income of $48,400 or less.
DON’T MISS
- Black farmers. After years of discrimination, Black and other minority farmers are getting more than $2 billion in direct payments from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The USDA has a history of refusing to process loans from Black farmers, of approving smaller loans compared to white farmers, and of foreclosing more quickly when Black farmers who obtained loans ran into problems, the Associated Press reports.
- Guaranteed income. The City of Los Angeles could bring back its guaranteed basic income program after researchers found participants reported being able to spend more time with their children and lower levels of psychological abuse, among other benefits, LAist reports. Some 3,202 low-income residents received $1,000 each month for a year in the “Basic Income Guaranteed: Los Angeles Economic Assistance Pilot program,” otherwise known as BIG: LEAP.
- Heat battle. CalMatters’ Jeanne Kuang wrote about a group of farmworkers who lost their jobs at a tomato field near Dixon after they decided to go home early because they felt sick due to the triple-digit heat in June. California has rules to protect farmworkers from excessive heat, but inspections and citations are significantly down compared to before the COVID pandemic. A bill before the Legislature would make it easier to file workers’ compensation claims for heat illnesses.
- Child deaths. Between the early 1800s and late 1960s, the U.S. federal government forcibly removed Native American children from their homes and sent them to boarding schools to be assimilated. Nearly 1,000 American Indian, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian children died while attending those schools, according to a new investigative report by the Interior Department that calls on the government to apologize and “chart a road to healing.” The New York Times has more details.
- Reparations support. A new survey by the California Black Power Network and racial justice organization Catalyst California found that Black Californians, regardless of their political party, overwhelmingly support reparations. Of the 1,256 Black Californians polled, 94% said they support reparations for slavery and other forms of racial oppression. Some 63% of the respondents identified as Democrats, while 22% said they were Independent voters, and 3% identified as Republicans.
Thanks for following our work on the California Divide team. While you’re here, please tell us what kinds of stories you’d love to read. Email us at inequalityinsights@calmatters.org.
Thanks for reading,
Wendy Fry and the California Divide Team
For the record: A previous version of this column mischaracterized the focus of Catalyst California.