PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following action:
Action taken:
Amendment of section 393.4(c) of Title 18 NYCRR.
Statutory authority:
Social Services Law, sections 20(3)(d), 34, 97 and 131(1)
Subject:
Home Energy Assistance Program.
Purpose:
To relocate an undesignated paragraph concerning regular Home Energy Assistance Program benefits to a more appropriate location within the same regulatory section.
Text of final rule:
Subdivision (c) of section 393.4 is amended to read as follows:
(c) "Regular HEAP benefit." For purposes of the annual HEAP State Plan, eligibility for the regular HEAP benefit must be determined annually and must be based on the household's circumstances (income, household size, energy type, etc.) for the entire calendar month in which the household has filed its application. In order to be eligible for a regular HEAP benefit, a household must pay for heat directly or make undesignated energy payments for heat in the form of rent and not reside in an ineligible living situation as provided in paragraph (3) of this subdivision. If heat is not included in the applicant's rent, a vendor relationship must be established for the applicant household. The vendor relationship must be documented by a current fuel/utility bill or contact with the fuel/utility company. While the applicant is not required to be the customer of record for regular HEAP, direct responsibility for payment of the bill must be established if the applicant or member of the applicant household is not the customer of record. The term "customer of record" means a person or persons who have an account, in their name, with a home energy vendor. The term "home energy vendor" means an individual or entity engaged in the business of selling electricity, natural gas, oil, propane, kerosene, coal, wood, or any other fuel used for residential heating. Once determined eligible, a household will receive a regular HEAP benefit for such program year in an amount to be set by the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (the office). The office must annually establish a payment matrix which will enable the office to meet the requirements of 42 USC section 8624(b)(5) and (8) and which sets payment levels with consideration to the availability of Federal funds and utilizes various factors including, but not limited to, income and fuel costs. Except as provided in paragraph (3) of this subdivision, the following households shall be eligible to receive a regular HEAP benefit, if and to the extent that an allocation of Federal funds is available to the district in which the household resides.
The undesignated paragraph following subparagraph (ix) of paragraph (5) of subdivision (c) of section 393.4 is repealed.
Final rule as compared with last published rule:
Nonsubstantive changes were made in section 393.4(c)(5)(ix).
Text of rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained from:
Jeanine Stander Behuniak, New York State Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, 40 North Pearl Street 16C, Albany, New York 12243-0001, (518) 474-9779, email: Jeanine.Behuniak@OTDA.state.ny.us
Revised Job Impact Statement
A revised job impact statement has not been prepared for the revised regulatory amendment. It is evident from the technical nature of the revision that the jobs of the workers applying the regulation impacted by the revised amendment would not be affected in any real way. After the Notice of Proposed Rule Making (I.D. No. TDA-16-08-00002-P) for this rule was published on April 16, 2008, a separate amendment (I.D. No. TDA-28-08-00002-A) was made to 18 NYCRR § 393.4, which, in part, affected the numbering of the paragraphs in subdivision (c) of that section. Consequently, the undesignated paragraph that the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance is repealing pursuant to this rule is now located following 18 NYCRR § 393.4(c)(5)(ix), and is no longer located after 18 NYCRR § 393.4(c)(4)(ix). A nonsubstantive change to the text of this rule provides the necessary clarification. Thus, neither this nonsubstantive change nor the amendment generally, which merely is relocating an undesignated paragraph to a new location in the same subdivision, will have any impact on jobs and employment opportunities in the State.
Assessment of Public Comment
During the public comment period for the proposed rule to relocate an undesignated paragraph in 18 NYCRR § 393.4(c), the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance received one comment in support of the consensus rule. The comment noted that the proposed rule would be a "stylistic improvement" and would "facilitate citation" of the regulatory text.
The Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance maintains that the consensus rule will be beneficial and will facilitate citation to the presently undesignated paragraph.
