Public Law 97-35, which created the title XX block grant, gave States the authority to transfer up to 10 percent of their annual allotment to one or any combination of the three health care block grants and the low-income home energy assistance block grant. (The three health care block grants are: the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant; the Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant; and the Alcohol, Drug Abuse, and Mental Health Services Block Grant.) In turn, most other block grant statutes allow States to transfer funds to the title XX program.
According to the fiscal year 1993 pre-expenditure reports submitted to HHS by States, two States planned to transfer title XX funds to other programs. Florida planned to transfer funds to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Block Grant Program, and North Carolina planned to transfer funds to the Maternal and Child Health Services Block Grant and the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant Programs. Sixteen States planned to transfer funds from the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Block Grant to supplement title XX funds. However, the Augustus F. Hawkins Human Services Reauthorization Act of 1990 eliminated the authority to transfer LIHEAP funds to other block grants, beginning for fiscal year 1994.