II
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. 1214
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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
MARCH31, 2025
Mr. M
ARKEY(for himself, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Ms. BLUNTROCHESTER, Mr.
B
OOKER, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. VANHOL-
LEN, Ms. WARREN, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, 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 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
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Heating and Cooling 4
Relief Act’’. 5
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 6
Congress finds that: 7
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(1) Energy remains unaffordable for low-income 1
households. Nationally, low-income households spend 2
a larger portion of their income on home energy 3
costs than other households. While the average en-4
ergy burden for non-low-income households is ap-5
proximately 3 percent, low-income households experi-6
ence energy burdens that are 3 times higher, with 1 7
in 4 low-income households spending more than 15 8
percent of their income on energy bills. The report 9
for the Household Pulse Survey of the Bureau of the 10
Census, issued on October 3, 2024, noted that, for 11
families with incomes of less than $35,000 a year, 12
about 54 percent said that they reduced or went 13
without basic household necessities, such as medicine 14
or food, in order to pay an energy bill, for at least 15
one month in the last year. 16
(2) The Low-Income Housing Energy Assist-17
ance Program was authorized by Congress to reduce 18
home energy burdens with heating and cooling as-19
sistance. In 2023, only 18 percent of income-eligible 20
households received a subsidy under the program. 21
(3) Climate change is fueling increasingly in-22
tense winter storms, frequent hurricanes and 23
wildfires, and extreme temperatures. Over the past 24
2 decades, the United States has seen a 135 percent 25
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increase in billion-dollar winter disasters, fueled by 1
climate change, rising from 31 of those disasters 2
from 1985 through 2004, to 73 of those disasters 3
from 2005 through 2024. 4
(4) Heat waves are increasingly common as cli-5
mate change accelerates, and now occur more often 6
in major cities across the United States. According 7
to reports from the National Aeronautics and Space 8
Administration, 2024 was the hottest year on record 9
in Earth’s history. The average heat wave season 10
across 50 cities is approximately 46 days longer now 11
than it was in the 1960s, and the American Medical 12
Association found that heat-related deaths have in-13
creased by over 16 percent per year since 2016. 14
However, in fiscal year 2023, less than 3 percent of 15
income-eligible households received cooling assistance 16
under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance 17
Program, with only 7 percent of funding from the 18
Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program 19
going toward cooling needs. As a result, the Federal 20
Government should provide further cooling assist-21
ance for communities in need. 22
(5) As a result of rising home energy bills and 23
insufficient Federal funding for the Low-Income 24
Home Energy Assistance Program, residential utility 25
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arrears, or the amount of funds owed by households 1
to their utilities, has climbed to an all-time high of 2
over $21,000,000,000 as of September 2024, with 3
over 21,000,000 households in debt to electric utili-4
ties and over 15,000,000 households in debt to nat-5
ural gas companies. Nearly 1 out of every 7 house-6
holds is behind on their electric or gas bill. 7
(6) While most States have shutoff protections 8
that prevent utility companies from disconnecting a 9
customer’s energy service during the coldest winter 10
months, 10 States have no winter shutoff protec-11
tions, and 29 States have no summer shutoff protec-12
tions. Even in certain States with winter or summer 13
shutoff protections, shutoffs continue to increase as 14
the period around the hottest and coldest months 15
lengthens. 16
(7) The loss of home energy service due to high 17
energy burdens is one of the primary reasons for 18
homelessness, especially for families with children. 19
In some housing contexts, loss of home energy serv-20
ice is a grounds for eviction. 21
(8) The Federal Government should expand and 22
update the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance 23
Program, as part of a robust Federal social safety 24
net, to— 25
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(A) protect families against unaffordable 1
home energy bills and home energy shutoffs, by 2
providing sufficient funding and imposing regu-3
lations where necessary; 4
(B) ensure all low- and moderate-income 5
families have access to affordable home cooling 6
powered by renewable energy, which will enable 7
households to adapt to rising temperatures due 8
to climate change and promote climate and en-9
ergy resiliency; 10
(C) enhance timely and meaningful public 11
participation and outreach— 12
(i) by including nontraditional part-13
ners, including home energy suppliers, 14
local educational agencies, and entities car-15
rying out other programs for low-income 16
people, to assist with signups; and 17
(ii) by adding stronger provisions for 18
presumed eligibility and waiving docu-19
mentation requirements for eligibility; and 20
(D) further Federal efforts to weatherize 21
housing for low- and moderate-income house-22
holds, to help families struggling to pay their 23
home energy bills and to meet national clean 24
energy goals. 25
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SEC. 3. FUNDING. 1
Section 2602 of the Low-Income Home Energy As-2
sistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8621) is amended— 3
(1) in subsection (b)— 4
(A) by striking ‘‘section 2607A)’’ and in-5
serting ‘‘section 2604(e), 2605(u), 2607A, 6
2607B, or 2607C)’’; and 7
(B) by striking ‘‘$2,000,000,000’’ and all 8
that follows and inserting ‘‘such sums as may 9
be necessary, including such sums as may be 10
necessary to enable the States to assist all 11
households that meet the eligibility require-12
ments established under this title and to enable 13
States to implement home energy affordability 14
measures described in section 2605(b)(3).’’; 15
(2) in subsection (e), in the first sentence— 16
(A) by striking ‘‘in each fiscal year’’; 17
(B) by striking ‘‘$600,000,000’’ and in-18
serting ‘‘$2,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2026, 19
and $2,000,000,000 plus such additional sums 20
as may be necessary for each fiscal year there-21
after,’’; and 22
(C) by inserting ‘‘, or arising from a major 23
disaster, as defined in section 2604(e)(1)’’ be-24
fore the period at the end; and 25
(3) by adding at the end the following: 26
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‘‘(f) There is authorized to be appropriated to carry 1
out section 2607C, including making grants under that 2
section, $1,000,000,000 for fiscal year 2026, and 3
$1,000,000,000 plus such additional sums as may be nec-4
essary for each fiscal year thereafter.’’. 5
SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 6
Section 2603 of the Low-Income Home Energy As-7
sistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8622) is amended— 8
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (4) through 9
(6), (7) through (10), and (11), as paragraphs (6) 10
through (8), (10) through (13), and (15), respec-11
tively; 12
(2) by inserting after paragraph (3) the fol-13
lowing: 14
‘‘(4) The terms ‘extreme heat’ and ‘extreme 15
cold’, used with respect to a period, means a period 16
in which there is an increased risk of— 17
‘‘(A) heat-related or cold-related, respec-18
tively, illness, hospitalization, or death; or 19
‘‘(B) failures or energy shutoffs of home 20
cooling or heating, respectively. 21
‘‘(5) The term ‘HEAP coordinator’ means an 22
employee— 23
‘‘(A) who administers a program funded 24
under section 2602(b); and 25
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‘‘(B) whose salary is paid, partly or wholly, 1
with funds made available under that section.’’; 2
(3) by inserting after paragraph (8), as so re-3
designated, the following: 4
‘‘(9) The term ‘local coordinating agency’ 5
means any local organization or local office that re-6
ceives funds under section 2602(b) to perform cus-7
tomer intake, or approval of benefits, on behalf of 8
the State agency.’’; and 9
(4) by inserting after paragraph (13), as so re-10
designated, the following: 11
‘‘(14) The term ‘State agency’ means any State 12
agency that administers the program funded under 13
section 2602(b).’’. 14
SEC. 5. ASSISTANCE FOR EMERGENCIES AND MAJOR DIS-15
ASTERS, INCLUDING EXTREME HEAT AND 16
COLD. 17
Section 2604 of the Low-Income Home Energy As-18
sistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8623) is amended— 19
(1) in subsection (a)(1)(B), by striking ‘‘section 20
2605(b)(9)(B)’’ and inserting ‘‘section 21
2605(b)(10)(B)’’; and 22
(2) in subsection (e)— 23
(A) by striking ‘‘(e)’’ and inserting the fol-24
lowing: 25
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‘‘(e)(1) In this subsection: 1
‘‘(2)’’; 2
(B) in paragraph (1), by adding at the end 3
the following: 4
‘‘(A) The term ‘covered household’ means 5
an eligible household in an area where the 6
President, or the Secretary, as the case may be, 7
has declared or determined the occurrence of a 8
natural disaster, emergency, or major disaster. 9
‘‘(B) The term ‘major disaster’ means— 10
‘‘(i) a major disaster or emergency de-11
clared under section 401 or 501, respec-12
tively, of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 13
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 14
U.S.C. 5170, 5191); 15
‘‘(ii) a public health emergency deter-16
mined under section 319 of the Public 17
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 247d); or 18
‘‘(iii) a period of extreme heat or ex-19
treme cold, as determined by the Sec-20
retary.’’; 21
(C) in paragraph (2), as so designated, by 22
striking ‘‘natural disaster or other emergency 23
involved’’ and inserting ‘‘natural disaster, emer-24
gency, or major disaster involved’’; and 25
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(D) by adding at the end the following: 1
‘‘(3) Upon a declaration or a determination of 2
a natural disaster, emergency, or major disaster, for 3
an area, the Secretary and the Administrator of the 4
Federal Emergency Management Agency shall, to 5
the extent practicable, provide heating or cooling as-6
sistance through such an allotment to a State for 7
covered households in that area. 8
‘‘(4) To receive assistance under this sub-9
section, the State that has jurisdiction over the cov-10
ered households shall provide assurances to the Sec-11
retary that the State— 12
‘‘(A) will not preclude a household that re-13
ceives heating assistance or cooling assistance 14
under this title during a calendar year, on the 15
basis of obtaining that assistance, from receiv-16
ing cooling assistance or heating assistance, re-17
spectively, under this title during that year; 18
‘‘(B) will not require a household to indi-19
cate that a household member has a medical 20
need for assistance under this title, to be eligi-21
ble for that assistance; and 22
‘‘(C) will allow use of such assistance for 23
purposes for which heating or cooling assistance 24
is available under the program funded under 25
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section 2602(b), including for providing energy- 1
efficient air conditioners, and other equipment 2
needed for home cooling, to eligible house-3
holds.’’. 4
SEC. 6. ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLDS. 5
Section 2605 of the Low-Income Home Energy As-6
sistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8624) is amended— 7
(1) in subsection (b)— 8
(A) in paragraph (1)(A), by striking 9
‘‘paragraph (5)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 10
(6)’’; 11
(B) in paragraph (2)— 12
(i) in the matter preceding subpara-13
graph (A), by inserting ‘‘, subject to sub-14
section (c)(1)(A),’’ after ‘‘only’’; 15
(ii) in subparagraph (B), by striking 16
‘‘(B)’’ and all that follows through clause 17
(ii) and inserting the following: 18
‘‘(B) households with incomes which do not 19
exceed the greater of— 20
‘‘(i) an amount equal to 250 percent 21
of the poverty level; or 22
‘‘(ii) an amount equal to 80 percent of 23
the State median income,’’; and 24
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(iii) in the matter following subpara-1
graph (B)— 2
(I) by striking ‘‘may give’’ and 3
inserting ‘‘shall give’’; and 4
(II) by inserting before the semi-5
colon the following: ‘‘, and the State 6
may not exclude a household from eli-7
gibility on the basis of citizenship of 1 8
or more of the household members’’; 9
(C) by redesignating paragraphs (3) 10
through (16) as paragraphs (4) through (17), 11
respectively; 12
(D) by inserting after paragraph (2) the 13
following: 14
‘‘(3) E
NERGY BURDEN LIMITS .—To the extent 15
practicable, the Secretary shall work with States 16
using funding under section 2602(b) (supplemented 17
by funding available through State-level energy pro-18
grams, utility affordability initiatives, or other mech-19
anisms as determined by the State in consultation 20
with the Secretary) to implement home energy af-21
fordability measures— 22
‘‘(A) to ensure that no household eligible 23
under paragraph (2) experiences an energy bur-24
den for which the expenditures of the household 25
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for home energy exceed 3 percent of household 1
income; and 2
‘‘(B) to prioritize the further reduction of 3
energy burdens for such eligible households 4
with the lowest incomes.’’; and 5
(E) in subparagraph (B) of paragraph 6
(10), as so redesignated, by striking ‘‘para-7
graph (16)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph (17)’’; 8
(2) in subsection (c)(1)— 9
(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ‘‘as-10
sistance to be provided under this title, includ-11
ing criteria’’ and inserting ‘‘assistance to be 12
provided under this title, including— 13
‘‘(i) certifying that the State and local 14
coordinating agencies in the State— 15
‘‘(I) shall, to the greatest extent 16
possible, use data sharing agreements 17
with Federal and State low-income as-18
sistance programs, including the sup-19
plemental nutrition assistance pro-20
gram established under the Food and 21
Nutrition Act of 2008 (7 U.S.C. 2011 22
et seq.), the Medicaid program estab-23
lished under title XIX of the Social 24
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.), 25
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and the supplemental security income 1
program established under title XVI 2
of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 3
1381 et seq.), to verify eligibility; 4
‘‘(II) shall implement simplified 5
re-enrollment procedures for house-6
holds with fixed incomes or house-7
holds already determined to be eligible 8
under other Federal and State low-in-9
come assistance programs, to reduce 10
administrative burdens on applicants 11
and agencies; 12
‘‘(III) shall not require applicants 13
to submit proof of citizenship to es-14
tablish status as an eligible household; 15
and 16
‘‘(IV) if neither the verification 17
process described in subclause (I) nor 18
the re-enrollment process described in 19
subclause (II) apply to a household, 20
shall allow applicants to self-attest 21
that the applicants meet the criteria 22
established under this title for an eli-23
gible household, to the extent nec-24
essary to facilitate access to assist-25
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ance and prevent undue hardship for 1
applicants; and 2
‘‘(ii) describing criteria.’’; 3
(B) in subparagraph (E), by striking 4
‘‘paragraph (5)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraph 5
(6)’’; and 6
(C) in subparagraph (F), by striking 7
‘‘clauses (3), (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (10), (12), 8
(13), and (15) of subsection (b)’’ and inserting 9
‘‘paragraphs (4), (5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (11), 10
(13), (14), and (16) of subsection (b)’’; 11
(3) in subsection (e), by striking ‘‘subsection 12
(b)(10)’’ and inserting ‘‘subsection (b)(11)’’; 13
(4) in subsection (f), by adding at the end the 14
following: 15
‘‘(3) For purposes of section 401(c), and the re-16
mainder of title IV, of the Personal Responsibility 17
and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 18
U.S.C. 1611(a), 1601 et seq.), assistance under this 19
title shall not be considered to be a Federal public 20
benefit.’’; and 21
(5) in subsection (j), by striking ‘‘the State may 22
apply’’ and inserting ‘‘the State may, subject to sub-23
section (c)(1)(A)(i), apply’’. 24
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SEC. 7. CONDITIONS FOR FUNDING. 1
Section 2605 of the Low-Income Home Energy As-2
sistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8624) is amended— 3
(1) in subsection (b)— 4
(A) in paragraph (1)(C), by inserting be-5
fore the semicolon the following: ‘‘, using toxics- 6
free materials that do not contain asthmagens 7
or respiratory sensitizers, giving priority in the 8
use of those funds under this subparagraph, to 9
the greatest extent practicable, to supporting 10
emergency home repairs that foster energy effi-11
ciency, decarbonization, and climate resilience, 12
including through beneficial electrification of 13
heating and cooling’’; 14
(B) in paragraph (8), as so redesignated— 15
(i) in subparagraph (C), by striking 16
‘‘and’’ at the end; and 17
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-18
lowing: 19
‘‘(E) ensure that— 20
‘‘(i) the home energy supplier will not 21
charge late fees for any payment, by a 22
household receiving assistance through the 23
program funded under section 2602(b), 24
during the period beginning 6 months be-25
fore and ending 6 months after a date on 26
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which the supplier receives funds through 1
the program for the household; and 2
‘‘(ii) if the supplier receives funds 3
through the program for such a household 4
and charged such late fees during that pe-5
riod, the supplier shall refund the fees to 6
the household not later than 7 days after 7
the date the supplier receives the funds; 8
‘‘(F) ensure that the home energy supplier 9
will not shut off home energy from a household 10
that received assistance through the program 11
funded under section 2602(b), within the 2-year 12
period beginning on the date the household re-13
ceived the assistance; 14
‘‘(G) ensure that the home energy supplier, 15
in return for receiving funds through the pro-16
gram funded under section 2602(b)— 17
‘‘(i) will provide to the State data on 18
households that have not paid their home 19
energy bills, to enable the State and the 20
supplier to carry out coordinated outreach 21
concerning assistance available through the 22
program funded under section 2602(b); 23
and 24
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‘‘(ii) will, when sending a notice of 1
late payments to such households, include 2
information on such assistance, on how to 3
access such assistance through the pro-4
gram, and on eligibility criteria for the 5
program; and 6
‘‘(H) ensure that the home energy supplier 7
will, not later than 2 years after the date of en-8
actment of the Heating and Cooling Relief Act, 9
in return for receiving assistance under the pro-10
gram funded under section 2602(b) and 11
through a partnership with the State, offer a 12
low-income energy affordability payment pro-13
gram;’’; and 14
(C) in paragraph (10), as so redesig-15
nated— 16
(i) in subparagraph (A)— 17
(I) by striking ‘‘10 percent’’ and 18
inserting ‘‘15 percent’’; and 19
(II) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end; 20
and 21
(ii) by adding at the end the fol-22
lowing: 23
‘‘(C) in planning and administering that 24
program, the State shall use the portion of the 25
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amount described in subparagraph (A), that ex-1
ceeds 10 percent of the funds described in sub-2
paragraph (A), to expand the State program 3
funded under section 2602(b) so that the State 4
operates the program on a year-round basis; 5
and 6
‘‘(D) in planning and administering that 7
program, the State— 8
‘‘(i) shall make technological changes 9
to allow, not later than 5 years after the 10
date of enactment of the Heating and 11
Cooling Relief Act, for online submission of 12
applications for assistance through that 13
program; and 14
‘‘(ii) shall, to the extent practicable— 15
‘‘(I) conduct outreach activities, 16
including activities to increase enroll-17
ment as described in subsection (p); 18
‘‘(II) ensure that all HEAP coor-19
dinators in the State receive wages, 20
for administration funded under sec-21
tion 2602(b), at not less than the 22
greater of $15 per hour or the appli-23
cable Federal, State, or local min-24
imum wage rate; 25
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‘‘(III) conduct training for 1
HEAP coordinators, State agency 2
staff, and community partners on best 3
practices for outreach, application 4
processing, and assisting eligible 5
households; 6
‘‘(IV) as needed, conduct out-7
reach relating to the program funded 8
under section 2602(b) to rural electric 9
cooperatives, home energy suppliers 10
owned by a political subdivision of a 11
State, such as a municipally owned 12
electric utility, and home energy sup-13
pliers owned by any agency, authority, 14
corporation, or instrumentality of a 15
political subdivision of a State; and 16
‘‘(V) ensure autoenrollment of el-17
igible households into the program 18
funded under section 2602(b), and in 19
the process document any potential 20
barriers to autoenrollment that need 21
to be clarified or otherwise addressed 22
at the Federal level;’’; 23
(2) in subsection (c)(1)— 24
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(A) in subparagraph (G), by striking 1
‘‘and’’ at the end; 2
(B) by redesignating subparagraph (H) as 3
subparagraph (I); and 4
(C) by inserting after subparagraph (G) 5
the following: 6
‘‘(H) describes how the State will expand the 7
State program funded under section 2602(b) so that 8
the State operates the program on a year-round 9
basis in accordance with subsection (b)(10)(C) and 10
the measures the State has taken so far to carry out 11
that expansion; and’’; and 12
(3) by adding at the end the following: 13
‘‘(m) The Secretary shall allow, to the greatest extent 14
possible, eligible households to obtain assistance with 15
minimal administrative burden, by carrying out subsection 16
(c)(1)(A)(i). 17
‘‘(n) The Secretary shall, by grant or contract, pro-18
vide for a study that examines the rates of home energy 19
shutoffs and assessments of late fees among eligible house-20
holds, relative to those rates for households that are not 21
eligible households, over a period of several years. 22
‘‘(o) The Secretary shall provide technical assistance 23
to States to support partnerships described in subsection 24
(b)(8)(H). 25
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‘‘(p)(1) The Secretary, in consultation with the Sec-1
retary of Education, shall issue guidance for use of funds 2
for administrative activities described in subsection 3
(b)(10) to increase, through partnerships with elementary 4
schools, secondary schools, and local educational agencies, 5
enrollment in the program funded under section 2602(b) 6
among eligible households that include children and that 7
have high energy burdens. 8
‘‘(2) The Secretary shall issue guidance for use by 9
States on outreach relating to assistance through the pro-10
gram funded under section 2602(b) to high-risk individ-11
uals, with relevant medical conditions, that benefit from 12
the use of medical equipment that requires electricity, in-13
cluding a ventilator, an oxygen concentrator, or another 14
medical device that requires electricity. 15
‘‘(3) The Secretary shall issue guidance for use by 16
States on how to ensure that eligible households are aware 17
of additional grants, tax credits, and rebates, made avail-18
able under Public Law 117–169, or an amendment made 19
by such law. 20
‘‘(q) Not later than 1 year after the date of enact-21
ment of the Heating and Cooling Relief Act, the Secretary 22
shall require each State receiving funds under this title, 23
including allotments under subsection (a) or (e) of section 24
2604, to develop and update as necessary, an action plan 25
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for a period of extreme heat, which shall describe how the 1
State will use its allotments under this title to assist eligi-2
ble households in covering cooling costs and mitigating 3
heat-related health risks. 4
‘‘(r) Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 5
of the Heating and Cooling Relief Act, the Secretary shall 6
conduct a review of eligibility criteria for assistance under 7
this title and identify additional vulnerable populations to 8
include under such criteria, such as pregnant women and 9
individuals with medical conditions exacerbated by a pe-10
riod of extreme heat. 11
‘‘(s) The Secretary, in consultation with the Sec-12
retary of Energy, shall require State energy offices receiv-13
ing Federal funds under this title to develop plans— 14
‘‘(1) to retrofit low-income housing stock to 15
adapt to rising temperatures and address environ-16
mental hazards, including— 17
‘‘(A) deploying highly efficient cooling sys-18
tems, including heat pumps; 19
‘‘(B) expanding weatherization and passive 20
cooling strategies; 21
‘‘(C) addressing structural and health haz-22
ards, including mold, lead, asbestos, and pest 23
infections; and 24
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‘‘(D) ensuring that necessary electrical 1
panel and wiring upgrades are completed to 2
support the installation of cooling systems and 3
energy efficiency improvements; and 4
‘‘(2) to assess and adapt existing (as of the 5
date of development of the plan) shutoff policies to 6
protect all households while considering the impact 7
on energy affordability and energy grid reliability. 8
‘‘(t)(1) Not later than 1 year after the date of enact-9
ment of the Heating and Cooling Relief Act, the Secretary, 10
in consultation with the Secretary of Housing and Urban 11
Development, shall submit a report to Congress that— 12
‘‘(A) identifies safe residential temperature 13
standards for federally assisted dwelling units, con-14
sidering risks of periods of extreme heat and ex-15
treme cold and regional climate variations; and 16
‘‘(B) proposes strategies to ensure compliance 17
with the standards, including permitting covered 18
utility allowances to be used for cooling assistance 19
where feasible, taking into account regional climate 20
variations and housing stock differences. 21
‘‘(2) In this subsection, the term ‘covered utility al-22
lowance’ means a utility allowance— 23
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‘‘(A) applicable to public housing dwelling units 1
under section 3 of the United States Housing Act of 2
1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437a); or 3
‘‘(B) under the housing choice voucher program 4
under section 8(o)(2)(D) of the United States Hous-5
ing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 1437f(o)(2)(D)).’’. 6
SEC. 8. WEATHERIZATION. 7
Section 2605(k) of the Low-Income Home Energy 8
Assistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8624(k)) is amended— 9
(1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘15 percent’’ 10
and inserting ‘‘25 percent’’; and 11
(2) in paragraph (2)— 12
(A) in subparagraph (A), in the matter 13
preceding clause (i)— 14
(i) by striking ‘‘subparagraph (B)’’ 15
and inserting ‘‘subparagraph (C)’’; and 16
(ii) by striking ‘‘the greater of 25 per-17
cent’’ and inserting ‘‘a portion equal to the 18
greater of 35 percent’’; 19
(B) by redesignating subparagraph (B) as 20
subparagraph (C); and 21
(C) by inserting after subparagraph (A) 22
the following: 23
‘‘(B) The State— 24
‘‘(i) shall, to the extent practicable— 25
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‘‘(I) use the portion described in subpara-1
graph (A) for energy-related home repair that 2
reduces dependence on fossil fuel energy 3
sources; and 4
‘‘(II) use the portion to facilitate the use 5
of funds made available under section 2602(b) 6
to increase the participation of eligible house-7
holds in community solar programs, or to other-8
wise increase access to and ownership of dis-9
tributed renewable energy infrastructure among 10
eligible households; and 11
‘‘(ii) shall if possible give the highest priority to 12
using the portion for home repair that replaces ap-13
pliances that rely on fossil fuels with appliances that 14
use electric heating or cooling technology, powered 15
by renewable energy.’’. 16
SEC. 9. HOME ENERGY PAYMENT ARREARS DATA COLLEC-17
TION. 18
Section 2605 of the Low-Income Home Energy As-19
sistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8624), as amended by 20
section 7, is further amended by adding at the end the 21
following: 22
‘‘(u)(1)(A) The Secretary, in consultation with the 23
Secretary of Energy, shall develop a standardized template 24
for States and home energy suppliers to use to track and 25
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report data on eligible households in arrears in home en-1
ergy payments, including data on the related fees and dis-2
connections for such households. 3
‘‘(B) The template developed under subparagraph 4
(A) shall— 5
‘‘(i) include a definition of an eligible household 6
in arrears, with respect to home energy payments, as 7
an eligible household that has not made payment on 8
a home energy bill for more than 60 to 90 days, as 9
determined by the State agency or local coordinating 10
agency, unless otherwise specified by State law; 11
‘‘(ii) include metrics on related disconnections, 12
late fees, reconnections, and arrearage balances for 13
eligible households; and 14
‘‘(iii) align with existing (as of the date of the 15
development) Federal and State reporting mecha-16
nisms where applicable. 17
‘‘(2) Not later than 1 year after the date of enact-18
ment of the Heating and Cooling Relief Act, the Secretary 19
shall, in consultation with the Secretary of Energy, issue 20
guidance on best practices for States (including through 21
partnerships with home energy suppliers) to pay for home 22
energy payment arrearages with assistance provided 23
through the program funded under section 2602(b), in-24
cluding by paying for such arrearages at the time of dis-25
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semination of assistance through that program. Such 1
guidance shall prohibit any home energy supplier receiving 2
funds through the program from recovering arrearage as-3
sistance costs through rate increases or other charges to 4
customers, including cost recovery mechanisms that dis-5
proportionately impact low-income households. 6
‘‘(3) To the extent practicable, the Secretary and the 7
Secretary of Energy shall jointly— 8
‘‘(A) implement a data tracking system, aligned 9
with the standardized reporting template developed 10
under paragraph (1), to collect aggregate data re-11
garding the number of eligible households in arrears 12
and their respective energy burdens and develop rec-13
ommendations to HEAP coordinators on how to 14
minimize energy burdens for the households; and 15
‘‘(B) issue guidance to home energy suppliers 16
with recommendations for working with State agen-17
cies to address home energy payment arrearages of 18
eligible households. 19
‘‘(4) The Secretary, in consultation with the Sec-20
retary of Energy, may make grants to States to assist the 21
States in implementing data tracking and reporting re-22
quirements under this subsection. 23
‘‘(5) There are authorized to be appropriated to carry 24
out this subsection such sums as may be necessary.’’. 25
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SEC. 10. PROGRAM NAME CHANGE. 1
(a) LIHEAP.—The Low-Income Home Energy As-2
sistance Act of 1981 is amended— 3
(1) in section 2607A(b) (42 U.S.C. 8626a(b)), 4
in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by striking 5
‘‘low-income’’ the first place it appears; and 6
(2) in section 2607B(e)(2)(B)(ii) (42 U.S.C. 7
8626b(e)(2)(B)(ii)), by striking ‘‘Low-Income’’. 8
(b) O
THERLAW.—A reference in any other Federal 9
law (other than that Act), Executive order, rule, regula-10
tion, or delegation of authority, or any document, of or 11
relating to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Pro-12
gram, shall be deemed to refer to the Home Energy As-13
sistance Program. 14
SEC. 11. JUST TRANSITION GRANTS. 15
The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 16
1981 is amended by inserting after section 2607B (42 17
U.S.C. 8626b) the following: 18
‘‘SEC. 2607C. HEAP JUST TRANSITION GRANTS. 19
‘‘(a) G
RANTPROGRAM.—The Secretary and the Sec-20
retary of Energy shall jointly carry out a grant program 21
under this section. In carrying out the program, the Secre-22
taries shall make grants for a period of 3 years to States 23
and local governments to support the development and im-24
plementation of interagency plans to reduce energy bur-25
dens for eligible households with high home energy use. 26
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The plans shall promote the reduction of those burdens 1
in a manner that supports a just transition away from 2
fossil fuel energy and protects eligible households from the 3
threats of climate change. The Secretaries shall make the 4
grants for a period of 3 years. 5
‘‘(b) P
REFERENCES.—In making the grants, the Sec-6
retary shall give a preference to States, and local govern-7
ments, who set up coordination systems— 8
‘‘(1) to identify eligible households, that are re-9
cipients of assistance through the program funded 10
under section 2602(b), with high home energy use; 11
‘‘(2) to prioritize eligible households with the 12
highest energy burdens and lowest incomes, in align-13
ment with the priority provisions in paragraphs (2) 14
and (3) of section 2605(b), to receive emergency re-15
pair, weatherization, and retrofit assistance that re-16
sults in decarbonization and reductions in energy 17
use; and 18
‘‘(3) to partner with entities carrying out work-19
force development initiatives, unions, or minority or 20
women-owned business enterprises to provide emer-21
gency repairs, weatherization, and retrofit assist-22
ance. 23
‘‘(c) R
EPORT TOCONGRESS.—At the conclusion of 24
the 3-year grant period, the Secretaries shall— 25
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‘‘(1) conduct an evaluation of the program’s 1
outcomes; and 2
‘‘(2) prepare and submit to Congress a report 3
containing the results of the evaluation and policy 4
recommendations.’’. 5
SEC. 12. CONFORMING AMENDMENTS. 6
The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 7
1981 (42 U.S.C. 8621 et seq.) is amended— 8
(1) in section 2607B(e)(2)(K) (42 U.S.C. 9
8626b(e)(2)(K)) by striking ‘‘paragraphs (2), (3), 10
(4), (5), (7), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), and (14) of 11
section 2605(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (2), (4), 12
(5), (6), (8), (10), (11), (12), (13), (14), and (15) 13
of section 2605(b)’’; and 14
(2) in section 2610(b)(1) (42 U.S.C. 8629) by 15
striking ‘‘clauses (2), (5), (8), and (15) of section 16
2605(b)’’ and inserting ‘‘paragraphs (2), (6), (9), 17
and (16) of section 2605(b)’’. 18
Æ
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