II 

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.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘LIHEAP Emergency 

5 Reform Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress makes the following findings: 

8 (1) The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance 

9 Program (LIHEAP) provides vital assistance to the 
2

•S 1761 IS 

1 millions of Americans struggling to pay their energy 

2 bills. 

3 (2) The LIHEAP contingency fund was created 

4 ‘‘to meet the additional home energy assistance 

5 needs of one or more States arising from a natural 

6 disaster or other emergency’’. 

7 (3) While a total of approximately 

8 $2,670,000,000 in LIHEAP contingency funds have 

9 been distributed since 1990—in all cases, to help 

10 meet the needs of low-income families across the 

11 United States—widely varying eligibility rules have 

12 led to instances in which very real energy emer13 gencies have been overlooked. 

14 (4) The millions of Americans served by the 

15 Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and 

16 States struggling to meet demand for the assistance 

17 this Program provides, would greatly benefit from 

18 the addition of transparency to the process by which 

19 LIHEAP contingency funds are distributed. 

20 SEC. 3. LIHEAP CONTINGENCY FUND REFORM. 

21 Section 2604(e) of the Low-Income Home Energy 

22 Assistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8623(e)) is amended—

23 (1) by striking ‘‘(e) Notwithstanding’’ and in24 serting ‘‘(e)(1) Notwithstanding’’; 
3

•S 1761 IS 

1 (2) in the second sentence, by striking ‘‘or any 

2 other program’’; and 

3 (3) by adding at the end the following: 

4 ‘‘(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of this sub5 section, the Governor of a State may apply to the Sec6 retary for certification of an emergency in that State and 

7 an allotment of amounts appropriated pursuant to section 

8 2602(e). 

9 ‘‘(3) The Secretary, in consultation with the Sec10 retary of Energy and with the appropriate State officials, 

11 shall by rule adopt procedures for the equitable consider12 ation of applications under paragraph (2). Such proce13 dures shall require—

14 ‘‘(A) the consideration of each of the elements 

15 of the definition of ‘emergency’ in section 2603; 

16 ‘‘(B) the consideration of the differences be17 tween geographic regions including sources of energy 

18 supply for low-income households, relative price 

19 trends for sources of home energy supply, and rel20 evant weather-related factors including drought; and 

21 ‘‘(C) the Secretary to grant such applications 

22 within 30 days after submission unless the Secretary 

23 certifies in writing that none of the emergency con-
4

•S 1761 IS 

1 ditions defined in section 2603 have been dem2 onstrated.’’.

Æ