BILL NUMBER: SR 3	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senators Kehoe and Florez

                        DECEMBER 4, 2006

   Relative to low-income home energy assistance.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
             HOUSE OR SENATE RESOLUTIONS DO NOT CONTAIN A DIGEST



   WHEREAS, The cost of energy for residential use has been
increasing dramatically in the United States and in California; and
   WHEREAS, Low-income customers are particularly vulnerable to
increases in their energy bills for electricity, natural gas, and
propane, to both heat and cool their homes during extreme weather
conditions; and
   WHEREAS, The primary federal program assisting low-income families
with their energy costs is the Low Income Home Energy Assistance
Program (LIHEAP), which provides support both for family utility bill
payments and for increased energy efficiency through home
weatherization programs; and
   WHEREAS, Expenditure for LIHEAP is authorized in the amount of
$5.1 billion in the federal budget, of which only $2.2 billion has
been appropriated by the Congress for the 2007-08 fiscal year, which
is not adequate to support the winter heating needs of low-income
families for this coming winter of 2006-07; and
   WHEREAS, The federally appropriated amount is not sufficient to
begin to meet the urgent public health needs in warm-weather states
such as California and Arizona, which have experienced lethal periods
of extreme heat that have killed hundreds of vulnerable members of
our populations in the past year; and
   WHEREAS, There exists an extensive network of existing LIHEAP
providers who are public and nonprofit agencies in the United States,
including California, that could efficiently disburse the increased
funds that would result from an increased appropriation under LIHEAP
for the public welfare; now, therefore, be it
   Resolved by the Senate of the State of California, That California
calls on the President and the Congress to increase the federal
budget authorization for the federal Low Income Home Energy
Assistance Program to $7 billion dollars ($7,000,000,000) for the
2007-08 fiscal year, and appropriate that entire amount for
distribution to the states; and be it further
   Resolved, That the Secretary of the Senate transmit copies of this
resolution to the President and Vice President of the United States,
to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and to each Senator
and Representative from California in the Congress of the United
States.