I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2486
To amend the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 to increase
the availability of heating and cooling assistance, and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH31, 2025
Ms. A
NSARI(for herself, Ms. BARRAGA´N, Mr. BELL, Mr. CARSON, Mr. CAR-
TERof Louisiana, Ms. CASTORof Florida, Mrs. CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK,
Mr. C
LEAVER, Mr. COHEN, Ms. CROCKETT, Mr. DAVISof Illinois, Ms.
D
EGETTE, Mr. DOGGETT, Mr. EVANSof Pennsylvania, Mr. FIELDS, Mr.
H
UFFMAN, Mr. JOHNSONof Georgia, Mr. KHANNA, Ms. LEEof Pennsyl-
vania, Mrs. M
CIVER, Ms. MENG, Ms. MOOREof Wisconsin, Mr. MULLIN,
Ms. N
ORTON, Ms. OCASIO-CORTEZ, Ms. OMAR, Ms. PETTERSEN, Mrs.
R
AMIREZ, Ms. SA´NCHEZ, Ms. SCHAKOWSKY, Mr. SMITHof Washington,
Mr. T
HANEDAR, Mr. THOMPSONof Mississippi, Ms. TITUS, Ms. TLAIB,
and Mrs. W
ATSONCOLEMAN) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to
the Committee on Education and Workforce, for a period to be subse-
quently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such
provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
A BILL
To amend the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act
of 1981 to increase the availability of heating and cooling
assistance, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Heating and Cooling 2
Relief Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 4
Congress finds that: 5
(1) Energy remains unaffordable for low-income 6
households. Nationally, low-income households spend 7
a larger portion of their income on home energy 8
costs than other households. While the average en-9
ergy burden for non-low-income households is ap-10
proximately 3 percent, low-income households experi-11
ence energy burdens that are 3 times higher, with 1 12
in 4 low-income households spending more than 15 13
percent of their income on energy bills. The report 14
for the Household Pulse Survey of the Bureau of the 15
Census, issued on October 3, 2024, noted that, for 16
families with incomes of less than $35,000 a year, 17
about 54 percent said that they reduced or went 18
without basic household necessities, such as medicine 19
or food, in order to pay an energy bill, for at least 20
one month in the last year. 21
(2) The Low-Income Housing Energy Assist-22
ance Program was authorized by Congress to reduce 23
home energy burdens with heating and cooling as-24
sistance. In 2023, only 18 percent of income-eligible 25
households received a subsidy under the program. 26
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(3) Climate change is fueling increasingly in-1
tense winter storms, frequent hurricanes and 2
wildfires, and extreme temperatures. Over the past 3
2 decades, the United States has seen a 135 percent 4
increase in billion-dollar winter disasters, fueled by 5
climate change, rising from 31 of those disasters 6
from 1985 through 2004, to 73 of those disasters 7
from 2005 through 2024. 8
(4) Heat waves are increasingly common as cli-9
mate change accelerates, and now occur more often 10
in major cities across the United States. According 11
to reports from the National Aeronautics and Space 12
Administration, 2024 was the hottest year on record 13
in Earth’s history. The average heat wave season 14
across 50 cities is approximately 46 days longer now 15
than it was in the 1960s, and the American Medical 16
Association found that heat-related deaths have in-17
creased by over 16 percent per year since 2016. 18
However, in fiscal year 2023, less than 3 percent of 19
income-eligible households received cooling assistance 20
under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance 21
Program, with only 7 percent of funding from the 22
Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program 23
going toward cooling needs. As a result, the Federal 24
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Government should provide further cooling assist-1
ance for communities in need. 2
(5) As a result of rising home energy bills and 3
insufficient Federal funding for the Low-Income 4
Home Energy Assistance Program, residential utility 5
arrears, or the amount of funds owed by households 6
to their utilities, has climbed to an all-time high of 7
over $21,000,000,000 as of September 2024, with 8
over 21,000,000 households in debt to electric utili-9
ties and over 15,000,000 households in debt to nat-10
ural gas companies. Nearly 1 out of every 7 house-11
holds is behind on their electric or gas bill. 12
(6) While most States have shutoff protections 13
that prevent utility companies from disconnecting a 14
customer’s energy service during the coldest winter 15
months, 10 States have no winter shutoff protec-16
tions, and 29 States have no summer shutoff protec-17
tions. Even in certain States with winter or summer 18
shutoff protections, shutoffs continue to increase as 19
the period around the hottest and coldest months 20
lengthens. 21
(7) The loss of home energy service due to high 22
energy burdens is one of the primary reasons for 23
homelessness, especially for families with children. 24
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In some housing contexts, loss of home energy serv-1
ice is a grounds for eviction. 2
(8) The Federal Government should expand and 3
update the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance 4
Program, as part of a robust Federal social safety 5
net, to— 6
(A) protect families against unaffordable 7
home energy bills and home energy shutoffs, by 8
providing sufficient funding and imposing regu-9
lations where necessary; 10
(B) ensure all low- and moderate-income 11
families have access to affordable home cooling 12
powered by renewable energy, which will enable 13
households to adapt to rising temperatures due 14
to climate change and promote climate and en-15
ergy resiliency; 16
(C) enhance timely and meaningful public 17
participation and outreach— 18
(i) by including nontraditional part-19
ners, including home energy suppliers, 20
local educational agencies, and entities car-21
rying out other programs for low-income 22
people, to assist with signups; and 23
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(ii) by adding stronger provisions for 1
presumed eligibility and waiving docu-2
mentation requirements for eligibility; and 3
(D) further Federal efforts to weatherize 4
housing for low- and moderate-income house-5
holds, to help families struggling to pay their 6
home energy bills and to meet national clean 7
energy goals. 8
SEC. 3. FUNDING. 9
Section 2602 of the Low-Income Home Energy As-10
sistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8621) is amended— 11
(1) in subsection (b)— 12
(A) by striking ‘‘section 2607A)’’ and in-13
serting ‘‘section 2604(e), 2605(u), 2607A, 14
2607B, or 2607C)’’; and 15
(B) by striking ‘‘$2,000,000,000’’ and all 16
that follows and inserting ‘‘such sums as may 17
be necessary, including such sums as may be 18
necessary to enable the States to assist all 19
households that meet the eligibility require-20
ments established under this title and to enable 21
States to implement home energy affordability 22
measures described in section 2605(b)(3).’’; 23
(2) in subsection (e), in the first sentence— 24
(A) by striking ‘‘in each fiscal year’’; 25
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(B) by striking ‘‘$600,000,000’’ and in-1
serting ‘‘$2,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2026, 2
and $2,000,000,000 plus such additional sums 3
as may be necessary for each fiscal year there-4
after,’’; and 5
(C) by inserting ‘‘, or arising from a major 6
disaster, as defined in section 2604(e)(1)’’ be-7
fore the period at the end; and 8
(3) by adding at the end the following: 9
‘‘(f) There is authorized to be appropriated to carry 10
out section 2607C, including making grants under that 11
section, $1,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2026, and 12
$1,000,000,000 plus such additional sums as may be nec-13
essary for each fiscal year thereafter.’’. 14
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 15
Section 2603 of the Low-Income Home Energy As-16
sistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8622) is amended— 17
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (4) through 18
(6), (7) through (10), and (11), as paragraphs (6) 19
through (8), (10) through (13), and (15), respec-20
tively; 21
(2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol-22
lowing: 23
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‘‘(4) The terms ‘extreme heat’ and ‘extreme 1
cold’, used with respect to a period, means a period 2
in which there is an increased risk of— 3
‘‘(A) heat-related or cold-related, respec-4
tively, illness, hospitalization, or death; or 5
‘‘(B) failures or energy shutoffs of home 6
cooling or heating, respectively. 7
‘‘(5) The term ‘HEAP coordinator’ means an 8
employee— 9
‘‘(A) who administers a program funded 10
under section 2602(b); and 11
‘‘(B) whose salary is paid, partly or wholly, 12
with funds made available under that section.’’; 13
(3) by inserting after paragraph (8), as so re-14
designated, the following: 15
‘‘(9) The term ‘local coordinating agency’ 16
means any local organization or local office that re-17
ceives funds under section 2602(b) to perform cus-18
tomer intake, or approval of benefits, on behalf of 19
the State agency.’’; and 20
(4) by inserting after paragraph (13), as so re-21
designated, the following: 22
‘‘(14) The term ‘State agency’ means any State 23
agency that administers the program funded under 24
section 2602(b).’’. 25
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SEC. 5. ASSISTANCE FOR EMERGENCIES AND MAJOR DIS-1
ASTERS, INCLUDING EXTREME HEAT AND 2
COLD. 3
Section 2604 of the Low-Income Home Energy As-4
sistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8623) is amended— 5
(1) in subsection (a)(1)(B), by striking ‘‘section 6
2605(b)(9)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 7
2605(b)(10)(B)’’; and 8
(2) in subsection (e)— 9
(A) by striking ‘‘(e)’’ and inserting the fol-10
lowing: 11
‘‘(e)(1) In this subsection: 12
‘‘(2)’’; 13
(B) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end 14
the following: 15
‘‘(A) The term ‘covered household’ means 16
an eligible household in an area where the 17
President, or the Secretary, as the case may be, 18
has declared or determined the occurrence of a 19
natural disaster, emergency, or major disaster. 20
‘‘(B) The term ‘major disaster’ means— 21
‘‘(i) a major disaster or emergency de-22
clared under section 401 or 501, respec-23
tively, of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 24
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 25
U.S.C. 5170, 5191); 26
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‘‘(ii) a public health emergency deter-1
mined under section 319 of the Public 2
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d); or 3
‘‘(iii) a period of extreme heat or ex-4
treme cold, as determined by the Sec-5
retary.’’; 6
(C) in paragraph (2), as so designated, by 7
striking ‘‘natural disaster or other emergency 8
involved’’ and inserting ‘‘natural disaster, emer-9
gency, or major disaster involved’’; and 10
(D) by adding at the end the following: 11
‘‘(3) Upon a declaration or a determination of 12
a natural disaster, emergency, or major disaster, for 13
an area, the Secretary and the Administrator of the 14
Federal Emergency Management Agency shall, to 15
the extent practicable, provide heating or cooling as-16
sistance through such an allotment to a State for 17
covered households in that area. 18
‘‘(4) To receive assistance under this sub-19
section, the State that has jurisdiction over the cov-20
ered households shall provide assurances to the Sec-21
retary that the State— 22
‘‘(A) will not preclude a household that re-23
ceives heating assistance or cooling assistance 24
under this title during a calendar year, on the 25
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basis of obtaining that assistance, from receiv-1
ing cooling assistance or heating assistance, re-2
spectively, under this title during that year; 3
‘‘(B) will not require a household to indi-4
cate that a household member has a medical 5
need for assistance under this title, to be eligi-6
ble for that assistance; and 7
‘‘(C) will allow use of such assistance for 8
purposes for which heating or cooling assistance 9
is available under the program funded under 10
section 2602(b), including for providing energy- 11
efficient air conditioners, and other equipment 12
needed for home cooling, to eligible house-13
holds.’’. 14
SEC. 6. ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLDS. 15
Section 2605 of the Low-Income Home Energy As-16
sistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8624) is amended— 17
(1) in subsection (b)— 18
(A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking 19
‘‘paragraph (5)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 20
(6)’’; 21
(B) in paragraph (2)— 22
(i) in the matter preceding subpara-23
graph (A), by inserting ‘‘, subject to sub-24
section (c)(1)(A),’’ after ‘‘only’’; 25
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(ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 1
‘‘(B)’’ and all that follows through clause 2
(ii) and inserting the following: 3
‘‘(B) households with incomes which do not 4
exceed the greater of— 5
‘‘(i) an amount equal to 250 percent 6
of the poverty level; or 7
‘‘(ii) an amount equal to 80 percent of 8
the State median income,’’; and 9
(iii) in the matter following subpara-10
graph (B)— 11
(I) by striking ‘‘may give’’ and 12
inserting ‘‘shall give’’; and 13
(II) by inserting before the semi-14
colon the following: ‘‘, and the State 15
may not exclude a household from eli-16
gibility on the basis of citizenship of 1 17
or more of the household members’’; 18
(C) by redesignating paragraphs (3) 19
through (16) as paragraphs (4) through (17), 20
respectively; 21
(D) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 22
following: 23
‘‘(3) E
NERGY BURDEN LIMITS .—To the extent 24
practicable, the Secretary shall work with States 25
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using funding under section 2602(b) (supplemented 1
by funding available through State-level energy pro-2
grams, utility affordability initiatives, or other mech-3
anisms as determined by the State in consultation 4
with the Secretary) to implement home energy af-5
fordability measures— 6
‘‘(A) to ensure that no household eligible 7
under paragraph (2) experiences an energy bur-8
den for which the expenditures of the household 9
for home energy exceed 3 percent of household 10
income; and 11
‘‘(B) to prioritize the further reduction of 12
energy burdens for such eligible households 13
with the lowest incomes.’’; and 14
(E) in subparagraph (B) of paragraph 15
(10), as so redesignated, by striking ‘‘para-16
graph (16)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (17)’’; 17
(2) in subsection (c)(1)— 18
(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘as-19
sistance to be provided under this title, includ-20
ing criteria’’ and inserting ‘‘assistance to be 21
provided under this title, including— 22
‘‘(i) certifying that the State and local 23
coordinating agencies in the State— 24
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‘‘(I) shall, to the greatest extent 1
possible, use data sharing agreements 2
with Federal and State low-income as-3
sistance programs, including the sup-4
plemental nutrition assistance pro-5
gram established under the Food and 6
Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 7
et seq.), the Medicaid program estab-8
lished under title XIX of the Social 9
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.), 10
and the supplemental security income 11
program established under title XVI 12
of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 13
1381 et seq.), to verify eligibility; 14
‘‘(II) shall implement simplified 15
re-enrollment procedures for house-16
holds with fixed incomes or house-17
holds already determined to be eligible 18
under other Federal and State low-in-19
come assistance programs, to reduce 20
administrative burdens on applicants 21
and agencies; 22
‘‘(III) shall not require applicants 23
to submit proof of citizenship to es-24
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tablish status as an eligible household; 1
and 2
‘‘(IV) if neither the verification 3
process described in subclause (I) nor 4
the re-enrollment process described in 5
subclause (II) apply to a household, 6
shall allow applicants to self-attest 7
that the applicants meet the criteria 8
established under this title for an eli-9
gible household, to the extent nec-10
essary to facilitate access to assist-11
ance and prevent undue hardship for 12
applicants; and 13
‘‘(ii) describing criteria.’’; 14
(B) in subparagraph (E), by striking 15
‘‘paragraph (5)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 16
(6)’’; and 17
(C) in subparagraph (F), by striking 18
‘‘clauses (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (10), (12), 19
(13), and (15) of subsection (b)’’ and inserting 20
‘‘paragraphs (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (11), 21
(13), (14), and (16) of subsection (b)’’; 22
(3) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘subsection 23
(b)(10)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (b)(11)’’; 24
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(4) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the 1
following: 2
‘‘(3) For purposes of section 401(c), and the re-3
mainder of title IV, of the Personal Responsibility 4
and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 5
U.S.C. 1611(a), 1601 et seq.), assistance under this 6
title shall not be considered to be a Federal public 7
benefit.’’; and 8
(5) in subsection (j), by striking ‘‘the State may 9
apply’’ and inserting ‘‘the State may, subject to sub-10
section (c)(1)(A)(i), apply’’. 11
SEC. 7. CONDITIONS FOR FUNDING. 12
Section 2605 of the Low-Income Home Energy As-13
sistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8624) is amended— 14
(1) in subsection (b)— 15
(A) in paragraph (1)(C), by inserting be-16
fore the semicolon the following: ‘‘, using toxics- 17
free materials that do not contain asthmagens 18
or respiratory sensitizers, giving priority in the 19
use of those funds under this subparagraph, to 20
the greatest extent practicable, to supporting 21
emergency home repairs that foster energy effi-22
ciency, decarbonization, and climate resilience, 23
including through beneficial electrification of 24
heating and cooling’’; 25
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(B) in paragraph (8), as so redesignated— 1
(i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 2
‘‘and’’ at the end; and 3
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-4
lowing: 5
‘‘(E) ensure that— 6
‘‘(i) the home energy supplier will not 7
charge late fees for any payment, by a 8
household receiving assistance through the 9
program funded under section 2602(b), 10
during the period beginning 6 months be-11
fore and ending 6 months after a date on 12
which the supplier receives funds through 13
the program for the household; and 14
‘‘(ii) if the supplier receives funds 15
through the program for such a household 16
and charged such late fees during that pe-17
riod, the supplier shall refund the fees to 18
the household not later than 7 days after 19
the date the supplier receives the funds; 20
‘‘(F) ensure that the home energy supplier 21
will not shut off home energy from a household 22
that received assistance through the program 23
funded under section 2602(b), within the 2-year 24
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period beginning on the date the household re-1
ceived the assistance; 2
‘‘(G) ensure that the home energy supplier, 3
in return for receiving funds through the pro-4
gram funded under section 2602(b)— 5
‘‘(i) will provide to the State data on 6
households that have not paid their home 7
energy bills, to enable the State and the 8
supplier to carry out coordinated outreach 9
concerning assistance available through the 10
program funded under section 2602(b); 11
and 12
‘‘(ii) will, when sending a notice of 13
late payments to such households, include 14
information on such assistance, on how to 15
access such assistance through the pro-16
gram, and on eligibility criteria for the 17
program; and 18
‘‘(H) ensure that the home energy supplier 19
will, not later than 2 years after the date of en-20
actment of the Heating and Cooling Relief Act, 21
in return for receiving assistance under the pro-22
gram funded under section 2602(b) and 23
through a partnership with the State, offer a 24
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low-income energy affordability payment pro-1
gram;’’; and 2
(C) in paragraph (10), as so redesig-3
nated— 4
(i) in subparagraph (A)— 5
(I) by striking ‘‘10 percent’’ and 6
inserting ‘‘15 percent’’; and 7
(II) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 8
and 9
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-10
lowing: 11
‘‘(C) in planning and administering that 12
program, the State shall use the portion of the 13
amount described in subparagraph (A), that ex-14
ceeds 10 percent of the funds described in sub-15
paragraph (A), to expand the State program 16
funded under section 2602(b) so that the State 17
operates the program on a year-round basis; 18
and 19
‘‘(D) in planning and administering that 20
program, the State— 21
‘‘(i) shall make technological changes 22
to allow, not later than 5 years after the 23
date of enactment of the Heating and 24
Cooling Relief Act, for online submission of 25
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applications for assistance through that 1
program; and 2
‘‘(ii) shall, to the extent practicable— 3
‘‘(I) conduct outreach activities, 4
including activities to increase enroll-5
ment as described in subsection (p); 6
‘‘(II) ensure that all HEAP coor-7
dinators in the State receive wages, 8
for administration funded under sec-9
tion 2602(b), at not less than the 10
greater of $15 per hour or the appli-11
cable Federal, State, or local min-12
imum wage rate; 13
‘‘(III) conduct training for 14
HEAP coordinators, State agency 15
staff, and community partners on best 16
practices for outreach, application 17
processing, and assisting eligible 18
households; 19
‘‘(IV) as needed, conduct out-20
reach relating to the program funded 21
under section 2602(b) to rural electric 22
cooperatives, home energy suppliers 23
owned by a political subdivision of a 24
State, such as a municipally owned 25
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electric utility, and home energy sup-1
pliers owned by any agency, authority, 2
corporation, or instrumentality of a 3
political subdivision of a State; and 4
‘‘(V) ensure autoenrollment of el-5
igible households into the program 6
funded under section 2602(b), and in 7
the process document any potential 8
barriers to autoenrollment that need 9
to be clarified or otherwise addressed 10
at the Federal level;’’; 11
(2) in subsection (c)(1)— 12
(A) in subparagraph (G), by striking 13
‘‘and’’ at the end; 14
(B) by redesignating subparagraph (H) as 15
subparagraph (I); and 16
(C) by inserting after subparagraph (G) 17
the following: 18
‘‘(H) describes how the State will expand the 19
State program funded under section 2602(b) so that 20
the State operates the program on a year-round 21
basis in accordance with subsection (b)(10)(C) and 22
the measures the State has taken so far to carry out 23
that expansion; and’’; and 24
(3) by adding at the end the following: 25
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‘‘(m) The Secretary shall allow, to the greatest extent 1
possible, eligible households to obtain assistance with 2
minimal administrative burden, by carrying out subsection 3
(c)(1)(A)(i). 4
‘‘(n) The Secretary shall, by grant or contract, pro-5
vide for a study that examines the rates of home energy 6
shutoffs and assessments of late fees among eligible house-7
holds, relative to those rates for households that are not 8
eligible households, over a period of several years. 9
‘‘(o) The Secretary shall provide technical assistance 10
to States to support partnerships described in subsection 11
(b)(8)(H). 12
‘‘(p)(1) The Secretary, in consultation with the Sec-13
retary of Education, shall issue guidance for use of funds 14
for administrative activities described in subsection 15
(b)(10) to increase, through partnerships with elementary 16
schools, secondary schools, and local educational agencies, 17
enrollment in the program funded under section 2602(b) 18
among eligible households that include children and that 19
have high energy burdens. 20
‘‘(2) The Secretary shall issue guidance for use by 21
States on outreach relating to assistance through the pro-22
gram funded under section 2602(b) to high-risk individ-23
uals, with relevant medical conditions, that benefit from 24
the use of medical equipment that requires electricity, in-25
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cluding a ventilator, an oxygen concentrator, or another 1
medical device that requires electricity. 2
‘‘(3) The Secretary shall issue guidance for use by 3
States on how to ensure that eligible households are aware 4
of additional grants, tax credits, and rebates, made avail-5
able under Public Law 117–169, or an amendment made 6
by such law. 7
‘‘(q) Not later than 1 year after the date of enact-8
ment of the Heating and Cooling Relief Act, the Secretary 9
shall require each State receiving funds under this title, 10
including allotments under subsection (a) or (e) of section 11
2604, to develop and update as necessary, an action plan 12
for a period of extreme heat, which shall describe how the 13
State will use its allotments under this title to assist eligi-14
ble households in covering cooling costs and mitigating 15
heat-related health risks. 16
‘‘(r) Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 17
of the Heating and Cooling Relief Act, the Secretary shall 18
conduct a review of eligibility criteria for assistance under 19
this title and identify additional vulnerable populations to 20
include under such criteria, such as pregnant women and 21
individuals with medical conditions exacerbated by a pe-22
riod of extreme heat. 23
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‘‘(s) The Secretary, in consultation with the Sec-1
retary of Energy, shall require State energy offices receiv-2
ing Federal funds under this title to develop plans— 3
‘‘(1) to retrofit low-income housing stock to 4
adapt to rising temperatures and address environ-5
mental hazards, including— 6
‘‘(A) deploying highly efficient cooling sys-7
tems, including heat pumps; 8
‘‘(B) expanding weatherization and passive 9
cooling strategies; 10
‘‘(C) addressing structural and health haz-11
ards, including mold, lead, asbestos, and pest 12
infections; and 13
‘‘(D) ensuring that necessary electrical 14
panel and wiring upgrades are completed to 15
support the installation of cooling systems and 16
energy efficiency improvements; and 17
‘‘(2) to assess and adapt existing (as of the 18
date of development of the plan) shutoff policies to 19
protect all households while considering the impact 20
on energy affordability and energy grid reliability. 21
‘‘(t)(1) Not later than 1 year after the date of enact-22
ment of the Heating and Cooling Relief Act, the Secretary, 23
in consultation with the Secretary of Housing and Urban 24
Development, shall submit a report to Congress that— 25
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‘‘(A) identifies safe residential temperature 1
standards for federally assisted dwelling units, con-2
sidering risks of periods of extreme heat and ex-3
treme cold and regional climate variations; and 4
‘‘(B) proposes strategies to ensure compliance 5
with the standards, including permitting covered 6
utility allowances to be used for cooling assistance 7
where feasible, taking into account regional climate 8
variations and housing stock differences. 9
‘‘(2) In this subsection, the term ‘covered utility al-10
lowance’ means a utility allowance— 11
‘‘(A) applicable to public housing dwelling units 12
under section 3 of the United States Housing Act of 13
1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a); or 14
‘‘(B) under the housing choice voucher program 15
under section 8(o)(2)(D) of the United States Hous-16
ing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)(2)(D)).’’. 17
SEC. 8. WEATHERIZATION. 18
Section 2605(k) of the Low-Income Home Energy 19
Assistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8624(k)) is amended— 20
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘15 percent’’ 21
and inserting ‘‘25 percent’’; and 22
(2) in paragraph (2)— 23
(A) in subparagraph (A), in the matter 24
preceding clause (i)— 25
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(i) by striking ‘‘subparagraph (B)’’ 1
and inserting ‘‘subparagraph (C)’’; and 2
(ii) by striking ‘‘the greater of 25 per-3
cent’’ and inserting ‘‘a portion equal to the 4
greater of 35 percent’’; 5
(B) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 6
subparagraph (C); and 7
(C) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 8
the following: 9
‘‘(B) The State— 10
‘‘(i) shall, to the extent practicable— 11
‘‘(I) use the portion described in subpara-12
graph (A) for energy-related home repair that 13
reduces dependence on fossil fuel energy 14
sources; and 15
‘‘(II) use the portion to facilitate the use 16
of funds made available under section 2602(b) 17
to increase the participation of eligible house-18
holds in community solar programs, or to other-19
wise increase access to and ownership of dis-20
tributed renewable energy infrastructure among 21
eligible households; and 22
‘‘(ii) shall if possible give the highest priority to 23
using the portion for home repair that replaces ap-24
pliances that rely on fossil fuels with appliances that 25
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use electric heating or cooling technology, powered 1
by renewable energy.’’. 2
SEC. 9. HOME ENERGY PAYMENT ARREARS DATA COLLEC-3
TION. 4
Section 2605 of the Low-Income Home Energy As-5
sistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8624), as amended by 6
section 7, is further amended by adding at the end the 7
following: 8
‘‘(u)(1)(A) The Secretary, in consultation with the 9
Secretary of Energy, shall develop a standardized template 10
for States and home energy suppliers to use to track and 11
report data on eligible households in arrears in home en-12
ergy payments, including data on the related fees and dis-13
connections for such households. 14
‘‘(B) The template developed under subparagraph 15
(A) shall— 16
‘‘(i) include a definition of an eligible household 17
in arrears, with respect to home energy payments, as 18
an eligible household that has not made payment on 19
a home energy bill for more than 60 to 90 days, as 20
determined by the State agency or local coordinating 21
agency, unless otherwise specified by State law; 22
‘‘(ii) include metrics on related disconnections, 23
late fees, reconnections, and arrearage balances for 24
eligible households; and 25
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‘‘(iii) align with existing (as of the date of the 1
development) Federal and State reporting mecha-2
nisms where applicable. 3
‘‘(2) Not later than 1 year after the date of enact-4
ment of the Heating and Cooling Relief Act, the Secretary 5
shall, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, issue 6
guidance on best practices for States (including through 7
partnerships with home energy suppliers) to pay for home 8
energy payment arrearages with assistance provided 9
through the program funded under section 2602(b), in-10
cluding by paying for such arrearages at the time of dis-11
semination of assistance through that program. Such 12
guidance shall prohibit any home energy supplier receiving 13
funds through the program from recovering arrearage as-14
sistance costs through rate increases or other charges to 15
customers, including cost recovery mechanisms that dis-16
proportionately impact low-income households. 17
‘‘(3) To the extent practicable, the Secretary and the 18
Secretary of Energy shall jointly— 19
‘‘(A) implement a data tracking system, aligned 20
with the standardized reporting template developed 21
under paragraph (1), to collect aggregate data re-22
garding the number of eligible households in arrears 23
and their respective energy burdens and develop rec-24
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ommendations to HEAP coordinators on how to 1
minimize energy burdens for the households; and 2
‘‘(B) issue guidance to home energy suppliers 3
with recommendations for working with State agen-4
cies to address home energy payment arrearages of 5
eligible households. 6
‘‘(4) The Secretary, in consultation with the Sec-7
retary of Energy, may make grants to States to assist the 8
States in implementing data tracking and reporting re-9
quirements under this subsection. 10
‘‘(5) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry 11
out this subsection such sums as may be necessary.’’. 12
SEC. 10. PROGRAM NAME CHANGE. 13
(a) LIHEAP.—The Low-Income Home Energy As-14
sistance Act of 1981 is amended— 15
(1) in section 2607A(b) (42 U.S.C. 8626a(b)), 16
in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking 17
‘‘low-income’’ the first place it appears; and 18
(2) in section 2607B(e)(2)(B)(ii) (42 U.S.C. 19
8626b(e)(2)(B)(ii)), by striking ‘‘Low-Income’’. 20
(b) O
THERLAW.—A reference in any other Federal 21
law (other than that Act), Executive order, rule, regula-22
tion, or delegation of authority, or any document, of or 23
relating to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Pro-24
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gram, shall be deemed to refer to the Home Energy As-1
sistance Program. 2
SEC. 11. JUST TRANSITION GRANTS. 3
The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 4
1981 is amended by inserting after section 2607B (42 5
U.S.C. 8626b) the following: 6
‘‘SEC. 2607C. HEAP JUST TRANSITION GRANTS. 7
‘‘(a) G
RANTPROGRAM.—The Secretary and the Sec-8
retary of Energy shall jointly carry out a grant program 9
under this section. In carrying out the program, the Secre-10
taries shall make grants for a period of 3 years to States 11
and local governments to support the development and im-12
plementation of interagency plans to reduce energy bur-13
dens for eligible households with high home energy use. 14
The plans shall promote the reduction of those burdens 15
in a manner that supports a just transition away from 16
fossil fuel energy and protects eligible households from the 17
threats of climate change. The Secretaries shall make the 18
grants for a period of 3 years. 19
‘‘(b) P
REFERENCES.—In making the grants, the Sec-20
retary shall give a preference to States, and local govern-21
ments, who set up coordination systems— 22
‘‘(1) to identify eligible households, that are re-23
cipients of assistance through the program funded 24
under section 2602(b), with high home energy use; 25
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‘‘(2) to prioritize eligible households with the 1
highest energy burdens and lowest incomes, in align-2
ment with the priority provisions in paragraphs (2) 3
and (3) of section 2605(b), to receive emergency re-4
pair, weatherization, and retrofit assistance that re-5
sults in decarbonization and reductions in energy 6
use; and 7
‘‘(3) to partner with entities carrying out work-8
force development initiatives, unions, or minority or 9
women-owned business enterprises to provide emer-10
gency repairs, weatherization, and retrofit assist-11
ance. 12
‘‘(c) R
EPORT TOCONGRESS.—At the conclusion of 13
the 3-year grant period, the Secretaries shall— 14
‘‘(1) conduct an evaluation of the program’s 15
outcomes; and 16
‘‘(2) prepare and submit to Congress a report 17
containing the results of the evaluation and policy 18
recommendations.’’. 19
SEC. 12. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 20
The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 21
1981 (42 U.S.C. 8621 et seq.) is amended— 22
(1) in section 2607B(e)(2)(K) (42 U.S.C. 23
8626b(e)(2)(K)) by striking ‘‘paragraphs (2), (3), 24
(4), (5), (7), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), and (14) of 25
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section 2605(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (2), (4), 1
(5), (6), (8), (10), (11), (12), (13), (14), and (15) 2
of section 2605(b)’’; and 3
(2) in section 2610(b)(1) (42 U.S.C. 8629) by 4
striking ‘‘clauses (2), (5), (8), and (15) of section 5
2605(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (2), (6), (9), 6
and (16) of section 2605(b)’’. 7
Æ
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