Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network, Inc. will be holding a webinar entitled The Future of Lifeline: Looming Changes and Challenges to Essential Phone and Broadband Assistance on January 10. 2018 at 10:00 am Eastern.

Lifeline, the low-income telephone assistance program, has worked to improve the affordability of telephone service for more than 30 years and was modernized in 2016 to support the affordability of broadband service. 

While all eyes have been focused on the FCC’s recent net-neutrality vote, the FCC has quietly proposed sweeping changes that would substantially undercut the reach and effectiveness of the program. 

This webinar will provide a brief overview of Lifeline and its current reach and will highlight the proposed changes that the FCC is seeking to enact as well as action steps that can be taken to ensure that Lifeline’s core purposes remain intact, accessible, and adequately funded.

Presenters:  

Olivia Wein, Staff Attorney, National Consumer Law Center.  Olivia represents the interests of low-income clients at the federal and state level on energy and utility issues. She regularly submits testimony to Congress on the importance of the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), as well as comments to various federal agencies and state public utility commissions on behalf of low-income consumers. Olivia advocates for a strong federal Lifeline program and for programs and policies that will close the broadband divide.  She is a co-author of the fifth edition of NCLC’s manual Access to Utility Service and co-author of The Rights of Utility Consumers.  Olivia is a member of the Universal Service Administrative Company Board of Directors and serves on the Federal Communication Commission’s Consumer Advisory Committee. Ms. Wein was an Economic Justice Fellow at Consumers Union prior to her work at NCLC.

Elizabeth Marx, Supervising Attorney, Pennsylvania Utility Law Project. Liz’s work at PULP includes providing representation, advocacy, training, consultation and support services in energy and utility matters on behalf of Pennsylvania’s low-income residents and community organizations. She is also responsible for implementation of PULP’s Domestic Violence Utility Initiative, which provides representation to victims of domestic violence in utility matters and works to build the capacity of domestic violence advocates in addressing utility issues for survivors and their families.

Please register for the webinar at the link below:
https://zoom.us/meeting/register/aaa2a04680791fe34ac87b605f06faf5

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. 

For more information or questions about this program contact Kelly Bock Yeckley at kbockyeckley@palegalaid.net.