HR2486-119

What This Bill Does

The Heating and Cooling Relief Act substantially expands LIHEAP-style assistance. It authorizes such sums as necessary for the core program, raises emergency contingency funding to $2 billion for fiscal year 2026 and thereafter plus needed sums, and authorizes $1 billion for HEAP just-transition grants. It expands eligibility to households up to the greater of 250 percent of poverty or 80 percent of state median income, bars exclusion based on a household member's citizenship, treats assistance as not a federal public benefit for PRWORA purposes, and pushes states toward a 3 percent home-energy-burden cap. It adds extreme heat and extreme cold to disaster assistance, allows cooling equipment such as energy-efficient air conditioners, requires simplified enrollment through SNAP, Medicaid, and SSI data, imposes conditions on home energy suppliers receiving program funds, raises weatherization transfer percentages, creates arrears data and guidance, requires extreme-heat action plans, directs low-income housing retrofit plans, and creates three-year just-transition grants for states and local governments.

Who Benefits and How

Low-income energy households benefit from expanded eligibility, larger funding, year-round assistance, simplified enrollment, cooling help, arrearage relief, and a target that home energy costs not exceed 3 percent of income. Households facing extreme heat benefit because emergency assistance can cover cooling costs, energy-efficient air conditioners, and heat-related risk mitigation without a medical-need requirement. Weatherization and electrification contractors benefit from higher transfer authority and just-transition grants for emergency repair, heat pumps, community solar, and distributed renewable energy work. State and local governments benefit from grants to coordinate energy-burden reduction plans for households with high home energy use.

Who Bears the Burden and How

State HEAP agencies must expand eligibility, use data-sharing verification, simplify reenrollment, support self-attestation, run year-round programs, train coordinators, create extreme-heat action plans, and submit more data. Home energy suppliers receiving program funds must accept limits on late fees, shutoffs, arrearage cost recovery, customer data sharing, assistance notices, and low-income affordability programs. HHS and Energy Department offices must issue guidance, create templates and tracking systems, run studies, support grants, and review vulnerable populations. Federal taxpayers bear the cost of uncapped core assistance, $2 billion annual emergency funding, $1 billion annual just-transition grants, and additional state implementation grants.

Key Provisions

• Authorizes such sums as necessary for home energy assistance and raises emergency contingency funding to at least $2 billion for fiscal year 2026.
• Expands eligibility to the greater of 250 percent of poverty or 80 percent of state median income while barring citizenship-based household exclusion.
• Requires state assurances, supplier conditions, simplified enrollment, energy-burden measures, arrears tracking, extreme-heat action plans, and retrofit plans.
• Creates three-year HEAP just-transition grants supporting emergency repair, weatherization, electrification, workforce partnerships, and renewable-energy access.