[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1761 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
108th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1761
To provide guidelines for the release of Low-Income Home Energy
Assistance Program contingency funds.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
October 20, 2003
Ms. Cantwell (for herself, Mr. Smith, Mrs. Murray, Mrs. Feinstein, and
Mr. Wyden) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and
referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide guidelines for the release of Low-Income Home Energy
Assistance Program contingency funds.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``LIHEAP Emergency Reform Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
provides vital assistance to the millions of Americans
struggling to pay their energy bills.
(2) The LIHEAP contingency fund was created ``to meet the
additional home energy assistance needs of one or more States
arising from a natural disaster or other emergency''.
(3) While a total of approximately $2,670,000,000 in LIHEAP
contingency funds have been distributed since 1990--in all
cases, to help meet the needs of low-income families across the
United States--widely varying eligibility rules have led to
instances in which very real energy emergencies have been
overlooked.
(4) The millions of Americans served by the Low-Income Home
Energy Assistance Program, and States struggling to meet demand
for the assistance this Program provides, would greatly benefit
from the addition of transparency to the process by which
LIHEAP contingency funds are distributed.
SEC. 3. LIHEAP CONTINGENCY FUND REFORM.
Section 2604(e) of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of
1981 (42 U.S.C. 8623(e)) is amended--
(1) by striking ``(e) Notwithstanding'' and inserting
``(e)(1) Notwithstanding'';
(2) in the second sentence, by striking ``or any other
program''; and
(3) by adding at the end the following:
``(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this subsection, the
Governor of a State may apply to the Secretary for certification of an
emergency in that State and an allotment of amounts appropriated
pursuant to section 2602(e).
``(3) The Secretary, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy
and with the appropriate State officials, shall by rule adopt
procedures for the equitable consideration of applications under
paragraph (2). Such procedures shall require--
``(A) the consideration of each of the elements of the
definition of `emergency' in section 2603;
``(B) the consideration of the differences between
geographic regions including sources of energy supply for low-
income households, relative price trends for sources of home
energy supply, and relevant weather-related factors including
drought; and
``(C) the Secretary to grant such applications within 30
days after submission unless the Secretary certifies in writing
that none of the emergency conditions defined in section 2603
have been demonstrated.''.
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