Section 6.404 - Distribution of WAP Funds(a) Except for the Reobligation of Deobligated funds, the Department distributes funds to Subrecipients by an allocation formula.(b) The allocation formula allocates funds based on the number of Low Income Households in a Service Area and takes into account certain special needs of individual Service Areas, as set forth in this subsection. The need for energy assistance in an area is addressed through a weather factor (based on heating and cooling degree days). The extra expense in delivering services in sparsely populated areas is addressed by an inverse Population Density factor. The lack of additional services available in very poor counties is addressed by a county median income factor. Finally, the Elderly are given priority by giving greater weight to this population. The five factors used in the formula are calculated as follows: (1) County Non-Elderly Poverty Household Factor--The number of Non-Elderly Poverty Households in the County divided by the number of Non-Elderly Poverty Households in the State;(2) County Elderly Poverty Household Factor--The number of Elderly Poverty Households in the county divided by the number of Elderly Poverty Households in the State;(3) County Inverse Household Population Density Factor--(A) The number of square miles of the county divided by the number of Households of the county (equals the inverse Household population density of the county); and(B) Inverse Household Population density of the county divided by the sum of inverse Household densities;(4) County Median Income Variance Factor--(A) State median income minus the county median income (equals county variance); and(B) County variance divided by sum of the State county variances; and(5) County Weather Factor-- (A) County heating degree days plus the county cooling degree days, multiplied by the poverty Households, divided by the sum of county heating and cooling degree days of counties (equals County Weather); and(B) County Weather divided by the total sum of the State County Weather.(c) The five factors carry the following weights in the allocation formula: number of Non-Elderly Poverty Households (40%), number of poverty Households with at least one member who is 60 years of age or older (40%), Household density as an inverse ratio (5%), the median income of the county (5%), and a weather factor based on heating degree days and cooling degree days (10%). All demographic factors are based on the most current decennial U.S. Census. The formula is as follows: (1) County Non-Elderly Poverty Household Factor (0.40) plus;(2) County Elderly Poverty Household Factor (0.40) plus;(3) County Inverse Household Population Density Factor (0.05) plus;(4) County Median Income Variance Factor (0.05) plus;(5) County Weather Factor (0.10);(6) Total sum of paragraphs (1) - (5) of this subsection is multiplied by the total funds allocation to generate the county's allocation of funds; and(7) The sum of the county allocation within each Subrecipient Service Area equals the Subrecipient's total allocation of funds.(d) In the event that a Subrecipient who has been awarded LIHEAP-WAP funds elects to voluntarily transfer some portion of their LIHEAP-WAP funds to the LIHEAP CEAP activity, a request to do so must be submitted prior to August 1 of the first year of the federal LIHEAP award period. The amount of funds being voluntarily transferred will be returned to the Department and redistributed among LIHEAP CEAP providers to ensure appropriate coverage among counties. This may mean the LIHEAP Awarded Funds to that same Subrecipient having made the request, but alternatively could mean that the Awarded funds may be to one or more other CEAP Subrecipients providing CEAP services in the counties for which the WAP funds were transferred. The Department will distribute the funds proportionally to the affected counties and CEAP Subrecipients in the Service Area using the allocation formula in § RSA 6.303 of this title (relating to Distribution of CEAP Funds).(e) To the extent federal funding awarded to Texas is limited from one of the two WAP funding sources, possible allocations of funds to Subrecipients may be made in varying proportions from each source to maximize efficient program administration.(f) The Department may, in the future, undertake to reprocure the entities that comprise the network of Weatherization providers, in which case this allocation formula will be reassessed and, if material changes are needed, amended by rulemaking.10 Tex. Admin. Code § 6.404
Adopted by Texas Register, Volume 41, Number 48, November 25, 2016, TexReg 9295, eff. 12/4/2016; Adopted by Texas Register, Volume 43, Number 49, December 7, 2018, TexReg 7884, eff. 12/10/2018; Adopted by Texas Register, Volume 44, Number 52, December 27, 2019, TexReg 8270, eff. 1/1/2020; Adopted by Texas Register, Volume 46, Number 48, November 26, 2021, TexReg 8033, eff. 12/2/2021