California Home Internet LifeLine Act of 2025.

Senator Durazo's California Home Internet Lifeline Act of 2025 expands the state's Universal Lifeline Telephone Service program to include subsidized home broadband internet access for low-income households. The legislation establishes the Universal Lifeline Home Internet Services Fund within the State Treasury and creates a monthly subsidy of up to $20 for eligible households, who would pay no more than $10 for service meeting minimum speed requirements.

The Public Utilities Commission must adopt program rules by December 2026 and launch implementation by July 2027. Internet service providers participating in the program must promptly enroll eligible households, avoid upselling practices, and file detailed advice letters outlining their participation plans and enrollment statistics. The bill renames and expands the existing Universal Lifeline Telephone Service Trust Administrative Committee to oversee the new internet program, adding representatives from state agencies, nonprofit organizations, and consumer advocacy groups.

To fund the program, the legislation authorizes a fee on telephone access lines, with the specific amount to be determined by the Commission. The bill also requires transfer of excess funds from existing universal service programs to support broadband access. Up to $20 million may be allocated for public awareness campaigns through community and ethnic media channels. The Commission must report annually to the Legislature and California Broadband Council on enrollment progress and conduct a comprehensive review of expenditures by 2030 to assess fairness and adequacy.

The bill defines eligible households as those with at least one resident participating in qualified public assistance programs like Medi-Cal, CalFresh, or the California Alternate Rates for Energy program. Internet service must provide minimum speeds of 100 megabits per second downstream and 20 megabits per second upstream, with provisions for biennial speed requirement updates starting in 2030.