HB 1472-FN-A – AS INTRODUCED
2006 SESSION
05/09
HOUSE BILL 1472-FN-A
AN ACT establishing a home energy assistance program in the department of health and human services and making an appropriation therefor.
SPONSORS: Rep. Kurk, Hills 7; Rep. Hager, Merr 12; Rep. Batula, Hills 19; Rep. Wendelboe, Belk 1; Sen. Martel, Dist 18
COMMITTEE: Health, Human Services and Elderly Affairs
This bill establishes a home energy assistance program in the department of health and human services. The bill makes an appropriation for the program.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
06-2755
05/09
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Six
AN ACT establishing a home energy assistance program in the department of health and human services and making an appropriation therefor.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
1 New Chapter; Home Heating Assistance. Amend RSA by inserting after chapter 162-O the following new chapter:
CHAPTER 162-P
162-P:1 Home Heating Assistance Program.
I. The department of health and human services shall establish and administer a home heating assistance program to assist low-income families and individuals with the payment of home heating costs. Assistance shall be made available to households throughout the state, subject to available funds and the eligibility criteria established by this section and by the department through rules adopted under RSA 541-A.
II. To be eligible for home heating assistance:
(a) The recipient’s family, household, or individual income shall be 150 percent of the federal poverty level, or less.
(b) The recipient shall be responsible for paying the recipient’s home heating costs.
(c) The recipient shall be in compliance with all rules adopted pursuant to RSA 162-P:3.
III. The department of health and human services may engage in cost-effective purchasing practices to maximize the purchasing power of any funds appropriated under this chapter. Such practices may include the preseason purchase of fuel and negotiation with fuel suppliers on behalf of program recipients for additional fuel price discounts. The department shall make available to program recipients a list of any fuel suppliers who have agreed to provide fuel discounts under this section.
162-P:2 Coordination with the Office of Energy Planning. The department of health and human services shall consult with the office of energy planning to ensure that assistance under this chapter complements and is compatible with assistance provided under the New Hampshire fuel assistance program. If either the department of health and human services or the office of energy planning determines that the residents of this state would be best served by consolidating the 2 programs, either agency, or both, shall submit a report to this effect to the speaker of the house of representatives, senate president, and the chair of the relevant policy committee in each body, on or before November 1, 2006.
162-P:3 Home Heating Assistance Fund. There is established in the office of the state treasurer a home heating assistance fund. The fund shall be nonlapsing and continually appropriated to the department of health and human services for the purpose of providing home heating assistance to low-income individuals and families pursuant to RSA 162-P:1.
162-P:4 Rulemaking. The commissioner of the department of health and human services shall adopt rules under RSA 541-A relative to the administration and implementation of the chapter, including:
I. Recipient eligibility criteria.
II. Application procedures.
III. Benefit amounts.
IV. Payments to fuel suppliers and any related fuel supply agreements.
2 New Subparagraph; Dedicated Fund; Home Heating Assistance Fund. Amend RSA 6:12, I(b) by inserting after subparagraph (242) the following new subparagraph:
(243) Moneys deposited in the home heating assistance fund under RSA 162-P:3.
3 Appropriation. The sum of $1 for the biennium ending June 30, 2007 is hereby appropriated to the department of health and human services for the purposes of section 1 of this act. This appropriation is in addition to any other funds appropriated to the department of health and human services. The governor is authorized to draw a warrant for such amount out of any money in the treasury not otherwise appropriated.
4 Effective Date. This act shall take effect July 1, 2006.
LBAO
06-2755
11/28/05
HB 1472-FN-A - FISCAL NOTE
AN ACT establishing a home energy assistance program in the department of health and human services and making an appropriation therefor.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The Department of Health and Human Services and Office of Energy and Planning state this bill will increase state expenditures by an indeterminable amount and have an indeterminable fiscal impact on local expenditures in FY 2007 and each year thereafter. There will be no fiscal impact on county expenditures or state, county and local revenue.
This bill appropriates $1 from the general fund to the Department of Health and Human Services for the biennium ending June 30, 2007 for the purposes of this act.
METHODOLOGY:
The Office of Energy and Planning assumed coordination with the Department of Health and Human Services would involve daily communication to compare records during the winter months. To accommodate this communication, the Office assumed software will be required to compare records obtained from the State’s six community action programs with similar data collected by the Department of Health and Human Services. The Office is not able to estimate the cost of this software, but indicated the existing software for the state Fuel Assistance Program was developed over two and half years, and cost approximately $255,000. The Office assumed there could be some savings to municipalities since they may provide less assistance.
The Department of Health and Human Services indicated it administers several public assistance programs with eligibility standards at or below 150%, as considered by this bill. These programs include Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF), Food Stamps, State Supplemental Programs, including Old Age Assistance (OAA), Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled (APTD) and Aid to the Needy Blind (ANB) and qualified Medicare beneficiaries. Current combined caseloads for these programs are about 82,891. The Department stated there are additional individuals who may be eligible for this program who are not currently enrolled in another public assistance program, and therefore, the Department is not able to estimate the total number of potentially eligible individuals and families. The Department provides some heating assistance through the Emergency Assistance Program and through the Bureau of Elderly and Adult Services utilizing Older Americans Act grant funds. The Department is not able to determine the average amount of assistance each eligible household would receive or how such amounts would be offset by assistance received through other programs.
The Department assumed that it will need at least five employees for creation of this program, implementation, training, advertising, district office eligibility determination and clerical support. The addition of the new program will affect eligibility for other programs that consider utility costs in determining countable income. The Department estimates required changes to the New HEIGHTS eligibility management system would cost approximately $300,000.