Carr Backs General Counsel Brief in NaLA Calif. Lifeline Case

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr backed an Office of General Counsel amicus on the National Lifeline Association's challenge of the California Public Utilities Commission's requirement that wireless providers charge no co-payment to participate in the state's Lifeline program. Carr, in a statement Friday, agreed with the brief's position that the commission "has never addressed whether states may advance universal service by requiring wireless providers to offer minimum service standard plans with a $0 copayment as a condition of receiving state subsidies through a voluntary program like California LifeLine." The brief, filed in August in case 21-15969 with the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, was written in support of neither party.