Bill Text: PA HR258 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging the President and the Congress of the United States to increase funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 29-7)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2009-04-23 - Referred to INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS [HR258 Detail]

Download: Pennsylvania-2009-HR258-Introduced.html

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PRINTER'S NO. 1610
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
HOUSE RESOLUTION
No. 258 Session of2009
INTRODUCED BY WATERS, YOUNGBLOOD, KIRKLAND, PAYTON, PARKER, BELFANTI, BOBACK, BRADFORD, BRENNAN, BUXTON, CALTAGIRONE, COHEN, CONKLIN, DONATUCCI, FRANKEL, FREEMAN, GIBBONS, GOODMAN, GRUCELA, HESS, JOSEPHS, KORTZ, MANN, MELIO, MILLARD, M. O'BRIEN, PALLONE, PAYNE, READSHAW, SAINATO, SCAVELLO, SIPTROTH AND SWANGER, APRIL 23, 2009
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON INTERGOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, APRIL 23, 2009
A RESOLUTION
Urging the President and the Congress of the United States to
increase funding for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance
Program.
WHEREAS, The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program
(LIHEAP) was authorized by Title XXVI of the Omnibus Budget
Reconciliation Act of 1981 (Public Law 97-35, 95 Stat. 357) and
began in 1982; and
WHEREAS, Its purpose is to assist low-income households,
particularly those under the poverty level, that pay a high
proportion of household income for home energy to meet immediate
home energy needs; and
WHEREAS, Federal dollars for LIHEAP are allocated by the
United States Department of Health and Human Services to the
states as a block grant and are disbursed under programs
designed by the individual states; and
WHEREAS, LIHEAP remains dependent on the Federal
appropriations process for its funding; and
WHEREAS, LIHEAP is administered at the state and county
levels by government agencies and implemented primarily at the
local level by community action programs (CAPS), local welfare
agencies and area agencies on aging; and
WHEREAS, In this Commonwealth LIHEAP is administered by the
Department of Public Welfare and consists of three components:
cash benefits to help eligible low-income households pay for
their home-heating fuel; crisis payments to resolve weather-
related, supply shortage and other household energy-related
emergencies; and energy conservation and weatherization measures
to address long-range solutions to the home-heating problems of
low-income households; and
WHEREAS, Pennsylvania is the leading petroleum-refining state
in the Northeast, and the Drake Well in Titusville,
Pennsylvania, was the world's first commercial oil well, and
western Pennsylvania was the site of the world's first oil boom;
and
WHEREAS, According to the annual Home Energy Affordability
Gap report, Pennsylvania, along with much of the Northeast, is
vulnerable to distillate fuel oil shortages and price spikes
during winter months due to high demand for home heating; and
WHEREAS, More than one-fourth of Pennsylvania households rely
on fuel oil as their primary energy source for home heating; and
WHEREAS, In 2006, Pennsylvania provided over 350,000
households with financial heating assistance, which is
approximately 44% of the 800,300 eligible households in the
State; and
WHEREAS, Families in this Commonwealth receiving LIHEAP
assistance have incomes below 150% of the Federal poverty level;
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and
WHEREAS, According to the Campaign for Home Energy
Assistance, while the residential energy burden for all United
States households in 2001 was 7% of their income, for LIHEAP
recipient households the residential energy burden was 17.2%,
nearly 2.5 times the average burden; and
WHEREAS, Fifteen percent of LIHEAP grant funding is allocated
to weatherization efforts; and
WHEREAS, The Statewide waiting list for weatherization
services is approximately 1.5 times the program's annual number
of homes weatherized and is growing by approximately 400
households per year; and
WHEREAS, Recent rising energy costs and slow economic
conditions render it crucial that any potential for fraud within
the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program be eliminated; and
WHEREAS, LIHEAP has nurtured an effective partnership between
the Federal Government, state governments and the private
sector; therefore be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania urge the President and the Congress
of the United States to increase LIHEAP funding; and be it
further
RESOLVED, That the Federal Government put in place measures
to prevent fraud within the program or direct the states to
enact fraud prevention measures that could include establishing
verification and/or photo identification systems for those
receiving assistance under the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance
Program; and be it further
RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
the President of the United States, to the presiding officers of
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each house of Congress and to each member of Congress from
Pennsylvania.
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