42 U.S.C. § 8626 — Payments to States; fiscal year requirements respecting availability, etc.

(a) The Secretary^* pays each state^* its share of energy assistance money from that state's allotment under section 8623, following the timing rules in section 6503(a) of title 31. Each state must tell the Secretary, at least two months before its fiscal year ends, how much of its allotment it won't actually use that year. If the state plans to ask that unused money be held over for the next year (as allowed in subsection (b)(2)), it must make that request at the same time. If a state skips this notice requirement for one fiscal year, the Secretary won't pay it under this subsection for the next fiscal year.

(b) This subsection handles unused money. If the Secretary decides, by September 1st, that a state won't use part of its allotment that year, the Secretary must notify the state's chief executive officer and publish a notice in the Federal Register. That notice starts a 30-day countdown, after which the unused money can be given to other states instead — unless the state asks to keep it for next year. A state can request to hold unused money over to the following fiscal year. The request must explain why the money won't be used this year and describe what it'll be used for next year. Money held this way doesn't count when the Secretary later calculates that state's allotment or payment. But there's a cap: a state can't hold over more than 10 percent of what it was paid the year before (measured without counting any money it had already held over from an earlier year). Any money the Secretary does reallot to other states under this process follows the same 30-day notice steps as before. During that 30-day comment window, anyone can send the Secretary comments. After considering them, the Secretary tells the state's chief executive officer whether the money will be reallotted, and publishes that final decision in the Federal Register.