Bill Text: MI SB0390 | 2019-2020 | 100th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Human services; services or financial assistance; notification to public utility companies of residential customers who are eligible to receive energy assistance; provide for. Creates new act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-06-20 - Referred To Committee On Appropriations [SB0390 Detail]
Download: Michigan-2019-SB0390-Introduced.html
SENATE BILL No. 390
June 20, 2019, Introduced by Senator MACGREGOR and referred to the Committee on Appropriations.
A bill to provide regulatory certainty for low-income
assistance programs; to ensure that funding is allocated to
programs that are the most efficient in promoting self-sufficiency,
preventing crisis, and creating an efficient enrollment process;
and to prescribe the powers and duties of certain state departments
and agencies.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF MICHIGAN ENACT:
Sec. 1. As used in this act:
(a) "Associated agency partner" means an agency that receives
support under the Michigan energy assistance act to provide self-
sufficiency services under the Michigan energy assistance program.
(b) "Crisis" means that term as defined in section 2 of the
Michigan energy assistance act, MCL 400.1232.
(c) "Department" means the department of health and human
services.
(d) "Eligible low-income household" means that term as defined
in section 2 of the Michigan energy assistance act, MCL 400.1232.
(e) "Energy assistance" means that term as defined in section
2 of the Michigan energy assistance act, MCL 400.1232.
(f) "Federal poverty guidelines" means that term as defined in
section 2 of the Michigan energy assistance act, MCL 400.1232.
(g) "Funds" means that term as defined in section 2 of the
Michigan energy assistance act, MCL 400.1232.
(h) "Heating season" means that term as defined in section 9r
of 1939 PA 3, MCL 460.9r.
(i) "Long-term program" means a program that provides energy
assistance to eligible low-income households for 2 or more
consecutive months.
(j) "Michigan energy assistance act" means the Michigan energy
assistance act, 2012 PA 615, MCL 400.1231 to 400.1236.
(k) "Program" means that term as defined in section 2 of the
Michigan energy assistance act, MCL 400.1232.
(l) "Self-sufficiency" means paying energy bills on time,
budgeting for and the ability to provide for energy expenses, and
utilizing energy services to optimize on energy efficiency.
Sec. 2. (1) If income eligibility is determined by the
department, program funds shall continue to be prioritized toward
long-term programs that prevent crisis and yield the highest self-
sufficiency, as set forth in the Michigan energy assistance act.
(2) The public service commission shall ensure that any low-
income credit approved under section 6a or 6b of 1939 PA 3, MCL
460.6a or 460.6b, including the low-income assistance credit and
residential income assistance credit, is distributed and
prioritized first toward long-term programs that prevent crisis and
yield the highest self-sufficiency.
(3) A participating utility may not permit a customer who has
successfully completed the program to re-enroll the year
immediately following program completion unless either of the
following applies:
(a) The customer is a senior citizen.
(b) The customer is physically or developmentally disabled.
(4) This act does not prevent a customer from participating in
another program offered by a utility or a federal or state agency.
(5) As part of the reporting requirements in section 3 of the
Michigan energy assistance act, MCL 400.1233, within 90 days after
the effective date of this act, the department, in conjunction with
participating agency partners shall develop performance metrics to
evaluate whether customers are achieving self-sufficiency. The
department shall include in its annual report an assessment of the
barriers that exist for customers to achieve self-sufficiency, and
recommendations to overcome those barriers for the successful
implementation of this act.
(6) As part of the report required in section 3 of the
Michigan energy assistance act, MCL 400.1233, on a yearly basis,
the department shall report on the effectiveness of the
participating utilities' affordable payment plans. The report must
include the following, at minimum, for each utility:
(a) The number of defaults from the program.
(b) The number of program participants re-enrolling after
previous successful completion of the program.
(c) The change in disconnections, timely payments, and payment
success rates from the previous calendar year and 3-year rolling
average.
(d) An assessment of the status of each utility's program in
achieving the outcomes prioritized in this act.
(e) An assessment of the status of each utility's long-term
program in achieving the outcomes prioritized in this act including
the impact on customers receiving support through the program
compared to not having program support in preventing crisis,
yielding the highest self-sufficiency, and impacting residential
customers.
(f) The department's determination whether each utility
program is successful in appropriately achieving the priorities of
this act and the performance metrics developed in subsection (5).
(g) Steps, if any, that a utility must take to bring its
program into compliance with this act.
(7) The report required under subsection (6) may include
recommendations for legislative action to address any identified
barriers to the successful implementation of this act.
Sec. 3. (1) The department and associated agency partners
shall provide a process for a customer to enroll in a participating
utility's long-term program.
(2) A participating utility shall make available to a verified
customer as described in subsection (3) an automatic opt-in to the
utility's long-term program, within program limits. The
participating utility must notify an associated agency partner of
each new enrollment. The participating utility, in
coordination with a participating agency partner, must notify each
verified customer of the program benefits and requirements,
including further self-sufficiency support, as well as provide the
verified customer an opportunity to opt out of the program.
(3) A customer of a participating utility is a verified
customer if either of the following occurs:
(a) The customer has received assistance from the department
funded through a federal low-income home energy assistance program
block grant for crisis and heating assistance in the current
program year.
(b) The department has determined the customer's income
eligibility under any assistance program that meets the
requirements for income determination under the Michigan energy
assistance act.
(4) A participating utility may provide the department with a
list of customers potentially eligible for the program. The
department shall verify which of the customers, from the list
provided, it has previously verified income for under any other
assistance program that meets the requirements for income
determination under the Michigan energy assistance act, and shall
share the information with the participating utility.
(5) When redetermination of eligibility is necessary to
maintain participation in a participating utility's long-term
program, if the customer is enrolled in an assistance program for
which the department must verify income and the customer is meeting
all of the requirements of the participating utility's long-term
program, the department shall redetermine the customer as eligible.
(6) If the report in section 2(6) determines a utility program
is not appropriately achieving the priorities of this act, the
department shall not expend funds from the Michigan energy
assistance act to the applicable utility program unless the utility
can show that it has implemented any required changes under section
2(6)(g). If the department chooses to fund a program that was found
to be out of compliance in the report for the immediately preceding
year, the department must provide its rationale for funding that
program to the house and senate appropriations subcommittees on the
department's budget and the house and senate fiscal agencies.
Sec. 4. The requirements in this act must be implemented by
the department so that the program may be utilized beginning during
the 2019-2020 heating season.
