TITLE 8 SOCIAL
SERVICES
CHAPTER 150 LOW INCOME HOME ENERGY ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
PART 410 GENERAL
RECIPIENT REQUIREMENTS
8.150.410.1 ISSUING
AGENCY: New Mexico Health Care
Authority.
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8.150.410.2 SCOPE: The rule
applies to the general public.
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8.150.410.3 STATUTORY
AUTHORITY: 27 NMSA 1978 (1992 Repl.) provides for the health
care authority (HCA) to “...adopt, amend and repeal bylaws, rules and
regulations...”. It also provides for
administration of public assistance programs.
Section 9-8-1 et seq. NMSA 1978 establishes the HCA as a single, unified
department to administer laws and exercise functions relating to health care
facility licensure and health care purchasing and regulation.
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8.150.410.4 DURATION: Permanent.
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8.150.410.5 EFFECTIVE
DATE:
July 1, 2024, unless a different date is at the end of a section.
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8.150.410.6 OBJECTIVE: The objective
of these regulations is to provide policy and procedures for the administration
of the low income home energy assistance program (LIHEAP).
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8.150.410.7 DEFINITIONS: [RESERVED]
8.150.410.8 HOUSEHOLD
UNIT:
For purposes of LIHEAP, a household is an individual, or group of
individuals living together, who incurs a heating or cooling cost. The heating or cooling cost must be to meet
residential, not business or industrial, heating or cooling needs.
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8.150.410.9 ENERGY
RESPONSIBILITY:
A. Energy cost: To be eligible for LIHEAP benefits, the
household must incur an energy cost. The
energy cost may be for a primary heat source, i.e., the energy source or fuel
with which the household is predominantly heated, or for a secondary heat
source. A secondary heat source is an
energy source that is essential to the process of providing heat to the home. The energy cost may be for a cooling
cost. The cooling cost may be for a
primary source, i.e., evaporative cooling or refrigerated air, or secondary
cooling. Secondary cooling is the use of
energy to operate portable fans, ceiling fans, whole house fans, gable vent
fans, or power attic vent fans.
B. Secondary heat source: Electricity to ignite a gas or steam furnace
is the most common example of an allowable secondary heat source for LIHEAP
purposes. Electricity used only for
lighting purposes or to operate fans to distribute heat from a wood-burning
stove is not considered an allowable secondary heat source for LIHEAP purposes.
C. Wood-gathering households: Households who use wood as a fuel to heat
their home and gather the wood themselves are considered to have a heating
responsibility. Regardless of whether a
direct or indirect cost was incurred to obtain the wood the household meets
this requirement.
D. Direct or indirect utility responsibility: The heating/cooling cost may
be direct in the form of a utility payment or fuel purchase, or indirect in the
form of a non-subsidized rent payment which either designates or does not
designate the included utility cost, or costs associated with obtaining wood
for heating households.
E. Crisis intervention: To be eligible for LIHEAP regular or
life-threatening crisis intervention, the household must meet the eligibility
criteria for regular benefits as specified in 8.150.500.8 NMAC, must not have received
a LIHEAP benefit in the current federal fiscal year and, in addition, be able
to provide verification that proves the applicant household is facing a current
or impending energy crisis, established with any one of the following:
(1) current notice of disconnect for the
household from a utility vendor; or
(2) applicant written or verbal statement
of insufficient funds for the household to open an account with a utility
vendor or meet the security deposit requirements of a utility vendor; or
(3) statement from the household’s fuel
vendor that fuel will not be provided without payment.
(4) Life-threatening crisis intervention:
The applicant must meet the above criteria for a regular crisis intervention
and in addition provide a written or verbal statement advising that the
household faces an emergency which poses a threat to the health or safety of
one or more members of the household.
F. Community referrals: In circumstances where the household is not
eligible for crisis intervention, or if a balance remains after the crisis/life
threatening intervention has been provided, the household shall be informed of
other resources in the community, which may be able to assist the household in
meeting its energy expenses.
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8.150.410.10 [RESERVED]
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8.150.410.11 HOUSING
TYPE:
A. Non-subsidized rent: Non-subsidized rent is defined as an
obligation to pay for shelter which is entirely the responsibility of the
household incurring the expense.
(1) Separate direct costs: Households paying non-subsidized rent who
incur a separate heating/cooling cost are eligible for LIHEAP.
(2) Utilities included in rent: Households paying non-subsidized rent whose
utility costs are included in their rent, even if no such cost is designated,
are eligible for LIHEAP.
B. Subsidized rent: Subsidized rent assistance is defined as a
payment for shelter, or shelter and utilities, the cost of which has been
reduced due to a subsidy from a housing or other assistance program. University
housing does not meet this definition and is therefore not considered
subsidized housing.
(1) Separate direct costs: Households receiving subsidized rent
assistance who incur a separate direct cost for heating/cooling are eligible
for LIHEAP benefits;
(2) Subsidized rent/utilities with
additional separate utility cost:
Households receiving subsidized rent assistance who receive a subsidy
for utilities but who incur an additional out-of-pocket expense for utilities
are eligible for LIHEAP;
(3) Subsidized rent with utilities
included: Households receiving
subsidized rent assistance whose heating/cooling cost is included in their
subsidized rent and do not incur an additional out-of-pocket heating or cooling
expense are not eligible for LIHEAP;
(4) Subsidized rent with rental cost: Households receiving subsidized rent
assistance who pay rent but do not pay utilities are not eligible for LIHEAP;
and,
(5) Subsidized rent with no cost: Households receiving subsidized rent
assistance who pay no rent and no utilities are not eligible for LIHEAP;
C. Mortgaged or free and clear
home: Households who pay a mortgage or
own their own home and incur a separate heating/cooling cost are eligible for
LIHEAP.
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8.150.410.12 INDIAN
TRIBAL ELIGIBILITY: In New Mexico, an Indian tribe may choose to
administer its own LIHEAP program for tribal members and request from DHHS an
allocation of the state's share of the LIHEAP grant award for this purpose. An Indian tribe is defined as a legal entity
of a group of Native Americans living on tribal lands with a distinct and
separate government. Residents of tribal
land may be eligible for tribal administered LIHEAP or HCA-administered LIHEAP
under the following circumstances.
A. Tribes that administer LIHEAP: Indian tribal members living on their tribe’s
tribal lands, whose tribe administers their own LIHEAP program, are not
eligible for HCA-administered LIHEAP benefits.
B. Tribes not administering LIHEAP: Indian tribal members living on the tribal
lands of tribes not administering their own LIHEAP program may be considered
for HCA-administered LIHEAP benefits providing they meet income eligibility and
heating/cooling responsibility requirements as specified in this policy.
C. Indians on other tribes’ land: Households that are members of Indian tribes
administering their own LIHEAP program but not living on their tribe's tribal
lands, may be considered for HCA-administered LIHEAP benefits providing they
meet income eligibility and heating responsibility requirements, as specified
in this policy, and they did not receive LIHEAP benefits from their tribal
government for the current LIHEAP season.
D. Non-Indians and non-tribal members on
tribal land: Non-Indians living on
tribal lands and Indians living on tribal lands who are excluded from
eligibility for LIHEAP by the Indian tribe administering their own LIHEAP
program may be considered for HCA-administered LIHEAP benefits providing they
meet income eligibility and heating/cooling responsibility requirements as
specified in this policy.
E. At the direction of the HCA
secretary, HCA may serve tribal members normally excluded due to Subsection A
of 8.150.410.12 NMAC if they have not been or do not expect to be served by the
tribal LIHEAP program.
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8.150.410.13 CITIZENSHIP: To be
eligible, a LIHEAP household must contain at least one member who is a (1) U.S.
citizen, or (2) a qualified non-citizen considered eligible to participate in
the TANF program. See 8 USC Sec. 1641,
Title 8, Chapter 14, Subchapter IV, and any subsequent changes.
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8.150.410.14 RESIDENCY: To be
eligible, a LIHEAP household must have a residence in New Mexico and be
occupying that residence at the time of application. The LIHEAP benefit must be
applied toward the utility or fuel costs incurred for that residence.
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8.150.410.15 ENUMERATION: To be eligible
for inclusion in the LIHEAP benefit group, a social security number (SSN) or
proof of application for a number must be provided for each citizen and
qualified non-citizen for which assistance is being requested. Any member(s) of a LIHEAP applicant household
who do not meet the requirements of this section will not be eligible for a
LIHEAP benefit.
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8.150.410.16 RESIDENCE
IN FACILITY OR INSTITUTION: Persons residing in New Mexico but living in
group homes, halfway houses, institutions, homeless shelters, or in places not normally intended for human
occupation are not eligible unless they can document heating/cooling expenses.
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8.150.410.17 RECIPIENT
RIGHTS:
A. Treatment and
non-discrimination: Members of a
household shall have the right, at all times, to be
treated with dignity at all times.
Household members may not be discriminated against on
the basis of age, sex, race, color, handicap, national origin, or
religious or political belief.
B. Confidentiality: Household members have the right to
confidentiality as defined in 8.100.100.13 NMAC.
C. Fair hearings: The household has the right to disagree with
the determinations made by HCA and to appeal such actions through HCA's fair
hearing process.
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8.150.410.18 RECIPIENT
RESPONSIBILITIES:
A. Benefit purpose: The household is responsible for using the
benefit received for the purpose intended.
B. Erroneously issued benefits: If
it is determined the household is not entitled to the benefit received, whether
agency or recipient caused, the household is responsible for paying back the
benefits received. The household is
responsible for repayment whether the benefit was received directly by the
household or paid to a vendor per Subsection H of 8.150.100.12 NMAC, a claim
must be established for any erroneous benefit issuance.
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HISTORY OF
8.150.410 NMAC:
Pre-NMAC
History: The material in this part was derived from
that previously filed with the State Records Center and Archives:
ISD 600.0000, Energy Assistance Programs, 11/12/1982.
ISD 600.0000, Low Income Energy Assistance Program, 1/9/1984.
ISD 710.0000, Energy Assistance Programs, 11/15/1985.
ISD 620.0000, Crisis Intervention Assistance, 11/12/1982.
ISD 620.0000, Energy Crisis Intervention Assistance, 12/27/1983.
ISD 714.0000, Energy Crisis Intervention, 11/20/1985.
ISD 630.0000, Program Administration, 11/12/1982.
ISD 630.0000, Program Administration, 12/27/1983.
ISD 715.0000, Administration of Energy Assistance
Programs, 11/20/1985.
ISD FA 710, Energy Assistance Programs, 12/5/1989.
ISD CAS 700, Energy Assistance Program, 11/13/1991.
ISD CAS 700, Energy Assistance Program, 11/10/1992.
ISD/CACB/LHP 700, Low Income Home Energy Assistance
Program, 5/6/1994.
ISD/CACB/LHP 700, Low Income Home Energy Assistance
Program, 7/28/1994.
History of
Repealed Material: 8.150.410 NMAC - General Recipient Requirements (filed 9/17/2001), Repealed
effective 7/1/2024.
Other: 8.150.410 NMAC - General Recipient Requirements (filed 9/17/2001), Replaced by
8.150.410 NMAC - General Recipient
Requirements effective 7/1/2024.