Sponsors (11)
Official title: Amend the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981 to increase the availability of heating and cooling assistance, and for other purposes.
Introduced March 31, 2025 by Edward John Markey · Last progress March 31, 2025
The bill meaningfully expands, modernizes, and funds energy‑assistance and weatherization programs to reach more vulnerable households and advance efficiency/decarbonization, but does so at significant federal cost and with notable administrative, privacy, and implementation tradeoffs that could reduce near‑term direct aid for some families.
Low‑income households and states: the bill injects significantly larger and more predictable funding into LIHEAP and new emergency/weatherization programs (including a recurring $1B program and a $5B annual emergency floor) so more households can get assistance and states can plan.
Low‑income families, seniors, people with disabilities, and mixed‑status households: the bill expands and simplifies eligibility, raises income caps, protects access during disasters and extreme heat/cold, allows presumptive/self‑attestation enrollment, and bars citizenship‑based exclusions so more vulnerable households can get timely aid.
Households receiving retrofits or equipment: the bill increases support for weatherization, energy‑efficient appliances, electrification, community solar, and targeted home repairs, reducing energy bills and indoor health risks while advancing decarbonization.
Taxpayers and federal budgets: the bill substantially increases open‑ended federal spending (recurring appropriations and 'such sums as necessary'), raising the risk of higher deficits or the need for offsets or future cuts elsewhere.
State/local agencies and utilities: extensive new reporting, certification, procurement, and program requirements will impose significant administrative and IT burdens, divert staff time and money to implementation, and complicate coordination.
Low‑income households: some funds may be diverted from direct bill payments toward administrative costs, coordinator salaries, mandated program activities, or earmarked decarbonization priorities—reducing flexibility and possibly lowering the number of households who receive immediate aid.
Based on analysis of 12 sections of legislative text.
Renames LIHEAP to HEAP, expands eligibility and funding, creates a 3-year Just Transition grants program, requires arrears reporting and supplier protections, and prioritizes decarbonizing home upgrades.
Replaces the name “Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program” with “Home Energy Assistance Program” across statute and creates a multi-year federal program to reduce household energy burdens, expand eligibility, strengthen consumer protections, and support decarbonization and climate resilience. It authorizes a new 3-year HEAP Just Transition Grants program run by HHS and DOE, increases and makes recurring several funding authorizations, and directs states and utilities to adopt data-sharing, arrears tracking, and measures to prevent shutoffs. The bill raises the income eligibility cap for assistance, requires states to simplify enrollment and verification (including data-sharing with SNAP/Medicaid/SSI and self-attestation options), prioritizes energy-burden reduction and weatherization/retrofit activity that reduces fossil-fuel dependence, and mandates reporting, a standardized arrears data template, and supplier consumer-protection rules (e.g., suspension/refund of fees, shutoff restrictions, and low-income payment programs). It also provides grant preference for projects that partner with workforce programs, unions, and minority- or women-owned businesses and requires an evaluation and report to Congress after grant completion.