海角换妻 lawmakers approved $17 million in state COVID relief dollars Wednesday to help meet the growing call among 海角换妻 families for energy and heating assistance.
Lawmakers in the State House of Representatives and Senate voted in favor of appropriating the COVID funds to the federally-backed Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). It provides financial to qualifying residents.
However, 海角换妻 needs to prepare for the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars鈥� expiration at the end of this year, Republican State Rep. Jay Case said.
鈥淭his is our last time for federal dollar infusion of ARPA funds,鈥� Case said. 鈥淲e have to be very careful in how we calculate this going forward. Hopefully we can get people back to work, and where they don鈥檛 need this assistance.鈥�
Applications in 海角换妻 for LIHEAP are up about 9% over last year, Democratic State Rep. Jillian Gilchrest said.
海角换妻 should consider an annual appropriation for LIHEAP, according to Gilchrest, who chairs the state鈥檚 Human Services Committee.
鈥淲e might as a state want to look at should this become a regular thing,鈥� Gilchrest said. 鈥淭here are other states that contribute to LIHEAP. But yes, our hope would be that the feds would step up.鈥�
As of Jan. 13, more than 80,000 households applied for energy assistance, more than 65,000 of which were approved.
Of the approved $17 million, most will go toward LIHEAP, with $3.5 million reserved for nonprofit , the nation鈥檚 oldest fuel fund.
For months, Operation Fuel executives lamented the lack of funding needed to keep up with applications.
It received about 3,500 applications for fuel assistance for the summer/fall application period, which opened at the beginning of August and closed in mid-October, more than a month earlier than the intended November closure.
海角换妻 Speaker of the House Matt Ritter said he is unsure how quickly the newly-approved funds will be disseminated for households, but applicants previously denied can reapply.
