The following is a press release from state Sen. Jorge Cabrera’s office. Click this link to read a CT Mirror story on the passage of this bill.
HARTFORD – State Sen. Jorge Cabrera (D‑Hamden) voted for using a $17 million package of federal ARPA funds under state control to help those poor and elderly Connecticut residents who heat their homes with home heating oil. The money will be added to the $85 million that the legislature approved for home heating aid last fall.
Under the plan approved today in the Senate on a unanimous and bipartisan vote, $13.5 million will be assigned to Connecticut’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps low-income households with their home energy bills. The new, extra funding will provide supplemental benefits to people who have or will exhaust their benefits and who heat with deliverable fuel.
$3.5 million will also go to Operation Fuel for the current heating season to provide supplemental benefits for peoples who have or will exhaust their benefits.
Just a few months ago, Sen. Cabrera met in Ansonia with Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro and other state and local officials and nonprofit agencies to discuss the issue of LIHEAP funding – specifically, the need for Congress to approve a federal budget with more LIHEAP aid for Connecticut.
“When I was a young boy there were probably two or three occasions when my mother and father had to open our kitchen oven to keep us warm. At the time it didn’t register with me what was happening, but as I got older I realized we didn’t have the money to heat our home. But I heard that same type of story again when I met with constituents in Ansonia,” Sen. Cabrera said. “Some people are taking real risks to keep their families warm, so I am very proud to vote today for this bill and this home heating funding.”
There are over 70,000 households in the home heating aid program as of January 27, 2024. 5,400 households have exhausted benefits as of January 27, but there’s still $29 million in federal funding remaining to allocate, and the state Department of Social Services believes that sum will be adequate to fund the completion of the program this spring.
