Georgia will charge poor people $5 a month to get subsidized phone service, a move that one Republican regulator says will deter fraud. The state's Public Service Commission voted 3-2 on Tuesday to require that phone companies participating in the federal Lifeline program either collect the $5 fee or offer their customers at least 500 minutes of calling time.
State utility regulators will vote Tuesday on whether to charge low-income Georgians $5 dollars a month for a federal program that provides them with free cell-phone service. Some of those people say the fee will force them to make tough decisions about their budgets.