Energy Debt Relief for American Families Act

I 117TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 551 To amend the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 to provide for supplemental assistance for COVID–19 relief, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 28, 2021 Ms. KUSTER (for herself, Mr. WELCH, Mrs. TRAHAN, Mr. GARCI´A of Illinois, Mrs. DINGELL, Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ, Mr. JONES, Mr. BRENDAN F. BOYLE of Pennsylvania, Ms. NORTON, Mr. MCNERNEY, Ms. SEWELL, Mr. TONKO, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. KEATING, Ms. BLUNT ROCHESTER, Ms. MATSUI, Mr. COHEN, and Mr. BLUMENAUER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Education and Labor, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 to provide for supplemental assistance for COVID–19 relief, 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 ‘‘Energy Debt Relief 4 for American Families Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H551.IH H551 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 551 IH SEC. 2. ENERGY DEBT RELIEF FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES 1 PROGRAM. 2 (a) AUTHORIZATION.—Section 2602 of the Low-In- 3 come Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 4 8621) is amended by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(f) There is authorized to be appropriated for pay- 6 ments under this title, in addition to amounts appro- 7 priated for distribution to all the States in accordance with 8 section 2604 or to carry out section 2607A, 9 $10,000,000,000 for allocation to States under section 10 2607C.’’. 11 (b) SUPPLEMENTAL ALLOTMENTS FOR COVID–19 12 RELIEF.—The Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act 13 of 1981 (42 U.S.C. 8621 et seq.) is amended by inserting 14 after section 2607B the following: 15 ‘‘SEC. 2607C. SUPPLEMENTAL ALLOTMENTS FOR COVID–19 16 RELIEF. 17 ‘‘(a) ALLOTMENT OF FUNDS.—The Secretary may 18 allocate amounts appropriated under section 2602(f) to 19 provide supplementary funds to States to assist eligible 20 households in accordance with this section. 21 ‘‘(b) FORMULA FOR DISTRIBUTION.—Distribution of 22 amounts made available under this section shall be based 23 on a formula developed by the Secretary that provides 24 funding to States based on— 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H551.IH H551 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 551 IH ‘‘(1) the amount allotted to the State under this 1 title, other than section 2607A, in fiscal year 2021; 2 and 3 ‘‘(2) the average unemployment rate in the 4 State from January 31, 2020, through December 5 31, 2020. 6 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.— 7 ‘‘(1) ASSISTANCE.—A State may use funds allo- 8 cated to the State under this section to help eligible 9 households in the State maintain home energy or 10 electricity service, by providing to such households, 11 in accordance with the plan submitted by the State 12 under paragraph (2), 100 percent of the amount of 13 any utility bill incurred during the COVID–19 pan- 14 demic that is in arrears. 15 ‘‘(2) PLAN FOR DISBURSEMENT.—Not later 16 than 60 days after the date of enactment of this sec- 17 tion, each State shall submit to the Secretary a plan 18 for providing assistance under paragraph (1) that 19 prioritizes the restoration of terminated service and 20 the prevention of service terminations, taking into 21 consideration the total amount of debt in arrears of 22 eligible households and any other factors that the 23 State finds relevant. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H551.IH H551 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 551 IH ‘‘(3) ADMINISTRATIVE EXPENSES.—A State 1 may use not more than 15 percent of funds allocated 2 to the State under this section for administrative ex- 3 penses related to providing assistance under para- 4 graph (1). 5 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 6 ‘‘(1) ELIGIBLE HOUSEHOLD.—The term ‘eligi- 7 ble household’ means a household with a utility bill 8 incurred during the COVID–19 pandemic that cer- 9 tifies to the State (including through proof of job 10 loss of a member of the household, such as a layoff 11 or furlough notice or verification of application for 12 unemployment benefits) that it cannot pay such util- 13 ity bill because of economic distress caused by the 14 COVID–19 pandemic. 15 ‘‘(2) UTILITY BILL.—The term ‘utility bill’ 16 means a bill charged to a household for home energy 17 or electricity service. 18 ‘‘(3) UTILITY BILL INCURRED DURING THE 19 COVID–19 PANDEMIC.—The term ‘utility bill incurred 20 during the COVID–19 pandemic’ means a utility bill 21 for service provided during the period during which 22 the public health emergency declared by the Sec- 23 retary of Health and Human Services under section 24 319 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H551.IH H551 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 551 IH 247d) on January 31, 2020, with respect to 1 COVID–19 (or any renewal of that declaration), is 2 in effect. 3 ‘‘(e) TERMINATION.— 4 ‘‘(1) DATE.—The authority of the Secretary to 5 allocate funds under this section, and the authority 6 of a State to use such funds under subsection (c), 7 shall expire on the date that is 1 year after the date 8 of enactment of this section. 9 ‘‘(2) REMAINING FUNDS.— 10 ‘‘(A) UNALLOCATED FUNDS.—The Sec- 11 retary may not allocate or otherwise use any 12 funds appropriated under section 2602(f) that 13 have not been allocated under this section by 14 the date described in paragraph (1). 15 ‘‘(B) UNUSED FUNDS.—A State to which 16 funds have been allocated under this section 17 shall use any such funds, which have not been 18 used under subsection (c) by the date described 19 in paragraph (1), in the same manner as 20 amounts allotted to the State under section 21 2604.’’. 22 (c) REPORT.—Not later than 2 years after the date 23 of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H551.IH H551 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 551 IH Human Services shall submit to Congress a report describ- 1 ing— 2 (1) the number of households in each State that 3 received assistance under subsection (c)(1) of section 4 2607C of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance 5 Act of 1981, and demographic information for such 6 households, to the extent such information is avail- 7 able; 8 (2) the total amount of assistance provided to 9 households in each State under such subsection 10 (c)(1); 11 (3) the total amount of funds used by States 12 under subsection (c)(3) of such section 2607C; and 13 (4) any other information relating to the imple- 14 mentation and effectiveness of such section, as de- 15 termined appropriate by the Secretary. 16 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:45 Feb 18, 2021 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H551.IH H551 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS