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Supporting the
Adequate Funding of
the Low Income
Energy
Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
WHEREAS, The
National Hispanic
Caucus of State
Legislators (NHCSL)
fully supports the
principles of the
Low Income Energy
Assistance Program (LIHEAP),
as adequate utility
services are vital
to the health and
safety of American
households; and
WHEREAS,
Severely constrained
state budgets,
unprecedented
poverty and rising
energy prices are
overwhelming the
capabilities of
faith, nonprofit,
voluntary, and other
community-based
organizations to
satisfactorily help
eligible citizens’
heat and cool their
homes; and
WHEREAS,
State LIHEAP
administrators
report applications
for energy
assistance have
increased by 5.3
percent in late
2004, over the same
time last year; and
WHEREAS, For
the first time in
more than a decade,
more than five
million households
were compelled to
seek LIHEAP
assistance; and
WHEREAS,
LIHEAP needs to be
funded at a higher
level to regain the
purchasing power it
originally had in
the early 1980s; and
WHEREAS, If
sufficiently well
funded LIHEAP has
the capacity to
provide vital
heating and cooling
assistance to
low-income families,
including working
poor, senior
citizens, and
Americans with
disabilities; and
WHEREAS, A
national 2004 survey
of LIHEAP recipients
revealed that
families unable to
cope with their
energy bills were
compelled to cut
food, medicine and
basic necessities to
either warm or cool
their homes; and
WHEREAS, A
national 2003 survey
of LIHEAP recipients
found that LIHEAP
makes an essential
difference to
citizens in dire
need. LIHEAP
enabled:
62% of eligible
families to restore
utility services;
54% of LIHEAP
households to
subsist at safe and
healthy
temperatures; and
48% of recipients to
avoid disconnection;
and
WHEREAS,
LIHEAP assists
qualified low-income
citizens to meet
their bill payment
obligations through
arrearage
forgiveness and bill
reductions to more
affordable levels;
and
WHEREAS,
LIHEAP also helps to
minimize service
terminations,
enables qualified
households to avoid
greater reliance
upon other
government services,
and accelerates the
transition economic
self-reliance; and
WHEREAS, The
program also
advances America’s
overall energy
efficiency by
weatherizing homes,
repairing defective
equipment, and
reducing energy
usage; and
WHEREAS, The
Energy Information
Administration’s
latest Short-Term
Energy Outlook finds
that portions of the
country are
experiencing
substantially higher
home energy costs
(e.g., 34 % higher
heating oil, 20%
higher propane and
10% higher natural
gas prices); and
WHEREAS, The
National Fuel Funds
Network and other
groups have
petitioned the
Administration to
release the
remaining $50
million in Emergency
funding authorized
for FY 2005 be
released and that
LIHEAP funding be
increased to at
least $3.0 billion
in fiscal year 2006;
and
WHEREAS,
Insufficient LIHEAP
funding undermines
and threatens state
and local
initiatives that
need federal support
to provide energy
security for working
poor, elderly and
disabled Americans,
and drives citizens
in greater reliance
on even more
expensive
governmental
services like
Medicare and
Medicaid;
WHEREAS, The
AARP, the American
Association of
Blacks in Energy,
the Southern
Governors
Association, the
National Association
of Regulatory
Utility
Commissioners, the
Southern Legislative
Conference, the
National Conference
of Black Mayors,
amongst many other
groups have all
called upon Congress
to increase its
financial commitment
to the LIHEAP
program; and
WHEREAS, The
newly enacted Energy
Bill authorizes $5.1
billion of LIHEAP in
FY2006:
NOWTHEREFORE BE
IT RESOLVED,
That the National
Hispanic Caucus of
State Legislators
(NHCSL) convened at
its (Meeting, date
and place), urges
Congress to
appropriate LIHEAP
funds of $5.1
billion in the FY
2006 budget, and to
adhere to that level
of funding in future
budgets;
BE IT FINALLY
RESOLVED, That
this resolution be
dispatched to the
President of the
United States,
Members of Congress,
House and Senate
Leadership and other
appropriate
officials.
Adopted this 12th
day of November 2005
at the National
Hispanic Caucus of
State Legislators’
Executive Committee
& BBA meeting held
in Tampa, Florida.
Assemblyman Felix W.
Ortiz, NY
NHCSL President |
