Supporting Survivors of Domestic and Sexual Violence; Lifeline and Link Up Reform Modernization

In this document, the Federal Communications Commission adopted a Report and Order implementing the Safe Connections Act of 2022 (Safe Connections Act or SCA), taking significant steps to improve access to communications services for survivors of domestic abuse and related crimes. The Report and Order adopts rules to implement the line separation provisions in the Safe Connections Act that allow survivors to separate a mobile phone line from an abuser. To protect the privacy of calls and texts to hotlines, the Report and Order requires covered providers and wireline, fixed wireless, and fixed satellite providers of voice service to: omit from consumer-facing logs of calls and text messages any records of calls or text messages to covered hotlines in the central database established by the Commission; and maintain internal records of calls and text messages excluded from consumer- facing logs of calls and text messages. The Report and Order also designates the Lifeline program to support emergency communications service for survivors that have pursued the line separation process and are experiencing financial hardship.