Representative Sylvester Turner’s office says Representative Turner, the leading advocate for the System Benefit Fund, has agreed to an amendment to House Bill 7 to eliminate the Texas System Benefit Fund on September 1, 2016. This eliminates the only source of energy assistance provided by the State of Texas for the poorest Texans, including the […]
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Tag Archives: Weatherization
A better solution for energy assistance for Texas poor families is still possible
May 25, 2013 
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The Sierra Club has proposed a far better solution to the Texas Senate’s proposal to spend down and eliminate the $800+ million Texas System Benefit Fund. Here are the key points of the Sierra Club’s plan: On the System Benefit Fund, we prefer the approach taken by the House – create a trust fund going forward, […]
Read more System Benefit Fund deal in the works: better than nothing until it becomes nothing
May 24, 2013 1 Comment
A deal is reportedly in the works over the Texas System Benefit Fund that is better than what was originally proposed by the Texas Senate. In the three years however the deal will leave poor Texas households at the mercy of high cost unregulated electric utilities. I have written about the issue earlier. The original […]
Read more The facts about Texas weatherization spending contradict Senate Finance chairman’s claim
April 23, 2013 2 Comments
“Check the budget. We already spend a lot of money of weatherization.” This quote came from Senator Williams successfully arguing on the floor of the Texas Senate yesterday to defeat an amendment to use some of the $811 million System Benefit Fund for weathering the homes of poor Texans. We did what the Senator suggested. […]
Read more Texas Senate robs from the poor, gives away the money available for low-income utility assistance
April 22, 2013 1 Comment
Without bothering to put on masks, a majority of Texas Senators voted this afternoon to rob $811 million from a fund collected to help the poor pay their utility bills. There is not any other way to characterize today’s action. The Senate voted to return the funds in the State account collected from Texas utility […]
Read more Lawmakers consider refunding money intended to help poor – Houston Chronicle
April 6, 2013 2 Comments
The Houston Chronicle is reporting on the issue we blogged yesterday. Here is an excerpt from the Chronicle’s story (behind the paper’s paywall): A proposal to refund money to electricity customers across the state would enable the Texas Legislature to renege on two promises at once. For 14 years, the Legislature has collected a fee, […]
Read more TX Senate Finance Committee takes back money intended to help poor people pay for electricity
April 5, 2013 1 Comment
The Texas Legislature is debating what to do with the $850 million fund that helps Texans living near the poverty level with their utility bills. This is important because for Texans who are really poor, electric bills compete for their limited money for housing. Here is the background. In 1999 when the Legislature deregulated electric rates […]
Read moreAudit Report Roundup–Weatherization Program, TCAP, NSP
May 2, 2011 Comments Off
The Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs (TDHCA) audit committee meets next week, and their meeting packet is up at the TDHCA website. A couple of things caught my eye: An Internal Audit repor of the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), including that part of the program funded under the Recovery Act was released. In […]
Read moreWAP Update
February 4, 2011 Comments Off
We’ve discussed the ARRA Weatherization Assistance Program a few times here at Texas Housers, focusing on perceived shortcomings creating local jobs in the low-income communities served by the program and our take on early news coverage of its “slow start”. Last week’s Texas Observer had a more up-beat view of the program. In an article […]
Read moreCity of Houston weatherization jobs have not been in low-income communities
July 6, 2010 3 Comments
The 2009 Recovery Act increased the funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) in Texas by 2500%. This program funds local agencies to provide minor home repairs to low-income Texans. The Recovery Act was intended to create jobs in the communities most impacted by the recession. The Federal Office of Management and Budget, in a […]
Read moreDon’t bypass low income homeowners in weatherization program
June 8, 2010 Comments Off
The GAO recently issued its bimonthly report of activities funded by the Recovery Act (ARRA) in Texas, including a discussion of the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). The good news for TDHCA is that the GAO stated ” TDHCA has internal controls for WAP to help ensure that Recovery Act funds are spent according to program […]
Read moreWeatherization–a slow start for Texas may not be all bad news
December 22, 2009 2 Comments
The Dallas Morning News ran a story Sunday (here) regarding Texas’s slow start to the Weatherization Assistance Program. The story highlighted the fact that as of last month, the program had completed just a handful homes using Recovery Act funds. Austin’s KUT picked up the story this morning (here). Is this good news? No, we’d […]
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