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A08612 Summary:

BILL NOA08612
 
SAME ASNo Same As
 
SPONSORSolages
 
COSPNSRSimon, Wallace, Otis, Ardila, Lupardo
 
MLTSPNSR
 
Add §98, Soc Serv L
 
Establishes an emergency heating energy assistance program benefit to provide emergency assistance to certain households where such household is threatened with shut-off or an energy emergency due to nonpayment.
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A08612 Actions:

BILL NOA08612
 
01/12/2024referred to social services
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A08612 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
 
BILL NUMBER: A8612
 
SPONSOR: Solages
  TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the social services law, in relation to establishing an emergency heating energy assistance program benefit   PURPOSE To make households eligible for the Heating Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) and that meet certain criteria eligible for an Emergency Heating Energy Assistance Program (E-HEAP) benefit without having a utility termination notice.   SUMMARY: Section 1. Amends the social services law by adding a new section 98. Section 2. Sets the effective date.   JUSTIFICATION: Rising utility costs have had a devastating financial impact on count- less New Yorkers, especially those who were already struggling to make ends meet. This legislation will provide an E-HEAP program benefit to households eligible for the HEAP program if such households are facing an energy emergency. Currently, in order to qualify for E-HEAP, a customer must be facing an emergency which is defined as when the loss of heat is imminent. For those customers receiving heat via a utility, a final termination notice of service is used as a threshold. This process mandates that a customer must have fallen significantly behind in payment in order to avail them- selves to this much-needed benefit. Eliminating this requirement and setting a financial threshold would reduce the administrative burden that the Office of Temporary Disability Assistance, vendors, fuel suppliers, and customers must bear under the current process, and allow for customers to receive assistance in a more timely manner. This legislation will allow customers to qualify for this critical assistance prior to facing termination, ensuring that their service is not put at risk. Such a simple change will benefit low-income households and seniors on fixed incomes who might otherwise voluntarily go without food or medication so that they can pay their utility bills.   RACIAL JUSTICE IMPACT: People of color and low-income New Yorkers are disproportionately impacted by rising utility costs. Specifically, redlining and housing discrimination has resulted in Black and Latino households paying more in utilities than their White counterparts. Several studies have shown that low-quality housing stock due to racial segregation is a major driving factor of this disparity(1). This bill will make it easier for a household to receive E-HEAP when they are struggling to pay their utili- ty bills.   GENDER JUSTICE IMPACT: TBD.   LEGISLATIVE HISTORY: 2022: A9121; passed in the Assembly.   FISCAL IMPLICATIONS: None.   EFFECTIVE DATE: This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such effective date. (1) Constantine Kontokosta, Vincent Reina, Bartozs Bonczak, "Energy Cost Burdens for Low-Income and Minority Households: Evidence From Energy Benchmarking and Audit Data in Five U.S. Cities," Journal of the Ameri- can Planning Association 86 no. 1, (Sept. 2019): 89-105,   HTTP://DOI.ORG/10.1080/01944363.2019.1647446; Brentin Mock, "Neighbor- hoods With More People of Color Pay Higher Energy Bills," Bloomberg, November 25, 2019,   HTTP://WWW.BLOOMBERG.COM/NEWS/ARTICLES/2019-11-25/WHY-WHITE- HOUSE- HOLDS-PAY-LESS-FOR-UTILITIES.ct.
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A08612 Text:



 
                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                          8612
 
                   IN ASSEMBLY
 
                                    January 12, 2024
                                       ___________
 
        Introduced by M. of A. SOLAGES, SIMON, WALLACE, OTIS, ARDILA, LUPARDO --
          read once and referred to the Committee on Social Services
 
        AN  ACT to amend the social services law, in relation to establishing an
          emergency heating energy assistance program benefit
 
          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1. The social services law is amended by adding a new section
     2  98 to read as follows:
     3    § 98. Emergency heating energy assistance program benefit. 1.    Defi-
     4  nitions.  For  the  purposes  of this section, the following terms shall
     5  have the following meanings:
     6    (a) "Commissioner" shall mean the commissioner of the office of tempo-
     7  rary and disability assistance.
     8    (b) "HEAP" shall mean the low-income home energy  assistance  program,
     9  as described in section ninety-seven of this title and required by title
    10  26 of the federal omnibus budget reconciliation act of 1981.
    11    2.  The  commissioner  shall  establish  a state program to provide an
    12  emergency home energy assistance program benefit to households  eligible
    13  for  a low-income home energy assistance program where such household is
    14  threatened with shut-off or an energy emergency due to nonpayment.
    15    3. To be eligible for a benefit pursuant to this section,  the  appli-
    16  cant shall document that he or she:
    17    (a)  receives a regular HEAP benefit which is insufficient or unavail-
    18  able to ameliorate the emergency; and
    19    (b) (i) is currently without heating fuel; or
    20    (ii) has a heating fuel supply that will last less than seven calendar
    21  days; or
    22    (iii) has had heat-related utility service disconnected; or
    23    (iv) has heat-related utility service currently eligible  for  discon-
    24  nection; or
    25    (v) is experiencing an energy emergency due to:
    26    (1)  having  heat-related utility service arrears more than sixty days
    27  in arrears; or
 
         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD01615-01-3

        A. 8612                             2
 
     1    (2) having outstanding heat-related utility service arrears in  excess
     2  of three hundred dollars.
     3    4.  For  purposes  of  the  annual HEAP state plan, and subject to the
     4  availability of federal funds, a social services district may  authorize
     5  one or more household payments per program year in an amount which coin-
     6  cides  with  the  emergency  benefits  matrix  developed annually by the
     7  department of public service for the current program year.
     8    § 2. This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day  after  it  shall
     9  have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or
    10  repeal  of  any  rule  or regulation necessary for the implementation of
    11  this act on its effective date are authorized to be made  and  completed
    12  on or before such effective date.
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