Kelly, Gallego Introduce Legislation to Ensure Fair Share of Energy Assistance, Lowers Costs in Hot Weather States

Today, Arizona Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego introduced the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) Parity Act of 2025, legislation to ensure that federal home energy assistance is distributed equitably, so that states facing extreme heat disasters and growing populations like Arizona receive their fair share. 

LIHEAP is the federal government’s primary program for helping low-income households pay their energy bills. However, outdated provisions mean that LIHEAP funding unfairly benefits cold-weather states. These provisions were meant to ease the transition to a fairer formula, but instead, they’ve locked in long-term funding imbalances that disadvantage hot-weather states like Arizona. In 2023, less than five percent of eligible households in Arizona received LIHEAP assistance, whereas almost 90 percent of Michigan’s eligible households were served by this life-saving program. 

“Arizona families know that dangerously high summer temperatures can be just as deadly as extreme cold—and they deserve the same level of support to stay safe and healthy,” said Kelly. “We’re making a long-overdue improvement to this vital program, so energy assistance goes where it’s actually needed—lowering energy costs for Arizona families.” 

“No Arizonan should ever be forced to turn off their AC during a deadly summer heat wave simply because they can’t afford the electric bill,” said Gallego. “For decades, federal energy assistance funding has left Arizona and other hot-weather states behind – an injustice I’ve long fought to fix. I’m proud to introduce this bill with my Arizona colleagues to ensure families, seniors, and Arizonans with disabilities can afford to keep cool.” 

See what Arizona stakeholders are saying about the LIHEAP Parity Act of 2025: 

“My administration created the state’s first Extreme Heat Preparedness Plan to protect Arizonans and ensure they can stay safe, especially during the hottest months. But for far too long, Arizona has been shortchanged by an outdated federal LIHEAP formula that doesn’t reflect our realities,”said Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs. “I fully support Senator Kelly and Senator Gallego’s LIHEAP Parity Act because it’s time Arizona and other hot-weather states receive their fair share of federal dollars. This bill is a critical step towards Arizonans getting our fair share and will help ensure more Arizona families can keep the lights—and the A/C on.” 

“LIHEAP is crucial in supporting Arizona’s most vulnerable residents, providing them with additional help to pay their energy bills,” said Monica Whiting, Vice President of APS Customer Experience and Communications. “Those bills are higher in the summer as temperatures soar and air conditioning is needed to get relief from the heat. The bill from Senators Kelly and Gallego will help ensure hot weather states receive equitable federal funding to uphold all of our shared responsibilities to care for those who need it most. We thank the Senators for offering this bill to reform the program, so people get the help they need regardless of their location.”

“Access to electricity for cooling is fundamental, especially in communities like ours that experience extreme summer heat,” said Dallas Dukes, Vice President of Customer Experience and Corporate Strategy for Tucson Electric Power and UniSource Energy Services. “That’s why we strongly support this proposal. It would provide our customers and other residents in communities that experience intense summer heat with fair access to emergency bill payment resources.” 

“In Arizona’s extreme heat, energy assistance is a health and safety matter, especially for our most vulnerable neighbors,” said Wildfire Executive Director Kelly McGowan. “Wildfire and Arizona’s community action agencies have long been dedicated to connecting our communities with the LIHEAP program, which helps families access life-saving energy assistance. In 2024, we were able to provide support to more than 37,000 Arizona households — but this represents only a small slice, about 8%, of the families in our state who qualify for help. Additional LIHEAP funding for Arizona would greatly increase our capacity to serve more families and meet a clearly growing need in our communities.” 

“SRP applauds Senators Kelly and Gallego for introducing the LIHEAP Parity Act. For too long, warm weather states like Arizona, which had 113 consecutive days over 100 degrees last year, received significantly less LIHEAP resources than many cold weather states. This legislation brings fairness to the LIHEAP program and would no longer favor cold weather states over hot weather states,” said Vanessa Kisicki, SRP Associate General Manager and Chief Customer Executive. “The LIHEAP program is a critical lifeline for our most vulnerable populations including the elderly, our veterans, and families struggling to make ends meet. SRP looks forward to working with Senators Kelly and Gallego and hopes for swift action by Congress to bring much needed fairness to the LIHEAP program.”

Background: 

The LIHEAP Parity Act of 2025 removes outdated “hold-harmless” provisions that have distorted how regular LIHEAP funds are distributed across states, locking in preferences for colder regions at the expense of hotter states like Arizona. The bill amends the underlying formula to ensure funding is based on current energy needs and usage—so resources go where they’re most needed. 

Specifically, the bill: 

• Strikes the 1980s-era hold-harmless provisions from the LIHEAP allocation formula. 
• Requires the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to publicly disclose the data sources used in the formula and how often they’re updated. 

This legislation builds on Kelly’s broader efforts to strengthen the LIHEAP program. Just last month, Kelly led Arizona lawmakers in demanding answers from HHS after the department abruptly terminated the federal staff responsible for administering the program—jeopardizing access to assistance ahead of Arizona’s hottest months. 

To read the bill text, click here.