[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2628 Introduced in Senate (IS)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2628

 To amend the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 to provide 
procedures for the release of Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program 
                           contingency funds.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 24, 2006

 Ms. Cantwell (for herself, Mrs. Murray, 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 provide 
procedures 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 (referred 
        to in this Act as ``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 $3,800,000,000 in LIHEAP 
        contingency funds has 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 LIHEAP, and States 
        struggling to meet demand for the assistance LIHEAP 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 submitted 
under paragraph (2). Such procedures shall require--
            ``(A) the consideration of each of the conditions in the 
        definition of `emergency' in section 2603;
            ``(B) the consideration of the differences between 
        geographic regions including differences in sources of energy 
        supply for low-income households, relative price trends for 
        sources of home energy supply, and differences in 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 conditions in the definition of `emergency' in 
        section 2603 has been demonstrated.''.
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