LIHEAP IM 2011-1 Allocations from the Energy Emergency Contingency Fund FY 2010
Transmittal No. LIHEAP-IM-2011-01
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Date: October 29, 2010
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TO:
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LOW INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (LIHEAP) GRANTEES AND OTHER INTERESTED PARTIES |
GUIDANCEINTENDED FOR: |
X STATES |
SUBJECT:
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LIHEAP Allocations from the FY 2010 Energy Emergency Contingency Fund - $101 MILLION DISTRIBUTION ON SEPTEMBER 20, 2010 |
RELATED REFERENCES: |
The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (Public Law (P.L.) 111-117); the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act, Title XXVI of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 (P.L. 97-35), as amended |
PURPOSE: |
To provide grantees with information on the distribution of LIHEAP Emergency Contingency funds that took place on September 20, 2010. These funds were distributed to LIHEAP grantees to help eligible households meet home energy costs and address home energy emergencies during the upcoming cold winter months. |
BACKGROUND: |
The Human Services Amendments of 1994 (P.L. 103-252) amended Section 8621(e) of the LIHEAP statute to provide for a permanent authorization of an Emergency Contingency fund. Under this provision, up to $600,000,000 may be made available each fiscal year, in addition to other funds that may be appropriated, "to meet the additional home energy assistance needs of one or more States arising from a natural disaster or other emergency." Funds appropriated under this section are considered to be emergency requirements under the terms of Section 251(b)(2)(D) of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 and are to be made available only after the President submits a formal budget request to the Congress for all or a part of the funds appropriated under this section, provided that the request designates the amount requested as such an emergency requirement. Section 8623(e) of the LIHEAP statute, as amended in 1994 by P.L. 103-252, allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to allocate any funds made available under Section 8621(e) to one or more grantees, taking into account the extent to which the grantee was affected by the emergency or disaster, the availability of other resources to the grantees under LIHEAP or any other program, and such other factors that are deemed relevant. See Attachment 1 for more details. The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (P.L. 111-117), which was signed by the President on December 16, 2010, included an appropriation of $590,328,000 for LIHEAP emergency contingency purposes. P.L. 111-117 also provided that these funds were appropriated "for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010." See Attachment 2 for more details. On January 20, 2010, the Secretary of Health and Human Services released $490,000,000 to all States, Territories and Indian tribes/tribal organizations; due to the unusually cold weather of the late fall and winter and the continuing effects of the economic downturn. This release; plus a subsequent transfer (out) of $777,000 and a reapportionment (in) of $1,127,022; left $100,678,022 (approximately $101 million) in Emergency Contingency funds for heating crises, cooling crises or other situations that warrant additional LIHEAP funds. |
Content:
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On September 20, 2010, the Secretary of Health and Human Services released all $100,678,022 to all States, Territories and LIHEAP direct-funded Indian Tribes/Tribal organizations. The funds were released to all LIHEAP grantees because of the need to help eligible households meet home energy costs and address home energy emergencies during the upcoming cold winter months. These funds were allocated to all State and Territorial grantees. The amounts of such allocations were based on these grantees’ FY 1982 regular ("old formula") Block Grant ratios; we use these ratios whenever the amount of regular Block Grant available to the States is less than $1.975 billion. These funds were also allocated to all LIHEAP direct-funded Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations. Each Tribe’s allocation of these funds was based on the same proportionate share of that Tribe’s FY 2010 regular Block Grant allocation. The allocations to all the States, Territories and Indian Tribes and Tribal organizations are shown in Attachment 3. Please note that, of the $101 million total, $1.2 million accounts for no-year (X-year) Emergency Contingency funds that remained unobligated from past years. These funds were made available to us for distribution to grantees in FY 2010; as a result we decided to allocate them as part of this release. The grantees that got the X-year Emergency Contingency funds received them under a different Common Accounting Number (CAN) than that of the FY 2010 Emergency Contingency funds. The CAN under which the X-year funds were distributed was G99CX11; whereas the CAN under which the FY 2010 funds were distributed was G992212. The $101 million released on September 20, 2010 can be used for any allowable purpose under LIHEAP; and is subject to the same limitations as regular Block Grant funds for administrative costs (10 percent), weatherization (15 percent), and Assurance 16 activities (five percent). However, we waived the obligation rules for these funds that would normally apply, because the release was made too late in the fiscal year for most grantees to fully obligate the monies by September 30, 2010. Therefore, the September 20 Emergency Contingency funds are not subject to the 10 percent carryover rule—grantees are allowed to obligate any and all of these funds in FY 2010 and/or FY 2011. The total of all funds received from this distribution must be fully obligated before the end of FY 2011 (September 30, 2011). Because these funds are not subject to the 10 percent carryover rule they may not be (1) treated as carryover under Section 8626(b)(2)(A) of the LIHEAP statute; or (2) added to the base on which such carryover is calculated. With this release, all Emergency Contingency funds available for FY 2010 have been issued.
ATTACHMENT: (1) A copy of relevant portions of the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Act Title XXVI of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 (P.L. 97-35), as amended (2) A copy of the relevant portions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2010 (P.L. 111-117) (3) Distribution of $101 million in FY 2010 LIHEAP energy Emergency Contingency funds to States, Territories and Indian Tribes/Tribal organizations; and the formula for allocating these funds
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