2005-2006 Bill 3341: Prohibit the Discontinuance of Electric Or Natural Gas Service To

1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 116th Session, 2005-2006 3 4 H. 3341 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Reps. Allen, R. Brown, Breeland, McCraw, Anthony, F.N. Smith, Lee, Davenport, Cato, 10 Whipper, Clyburn, Jefferson, J. Brown and Norman 11 Document Path: l:\council\bills\gjk\20061sd05.doc 12 13 Introduced in the House on January 25, 2005 14 Currently residing in the House Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry 15 16 Summary: Prohibit the discontinuance of electric or natural gas service to senior citizens 17 18 19 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 20 21 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 22 1/25/2005 House Introduced and read first time HJ-5 23 1/25/2005 House Referred to Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry HJ-5 24 4/14/2005 House Member(s) request name added as sponsor: R.Brown, Breeland, McCraw, Anthony, 25 F.N.Smith, Lee, Davenport, Cato, Whipper, Clyburn, Jefferson, J.Brown, Norman 26 27 28 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 29 30 1/25/2005 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 12 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 58-1-95 SO AS TO PROHIBIT 13 THE DISCONTINUANCE OF ELECTRIC OR NATURAL GAS 14 SERVICE TO THE PRINCIPAL RESIDENCE OF SENIOR 15 CITIZENS OF A CERTAIN INCOME UNTIL FORTY-FIVE 16 DAYS AFTER NOTICE OF THE PROPOSED 17 DISCONTINUANCE HAS BEEN PROVIDED TO THE 18 DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES. 19 20 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 21 Carolina: 22 23 SECTION 1. Chapter 1, Title 58 of the 1976 Code is amended by 24 adding: 25 26 “Section 58-1-95. Any person sixty-five years of age or older 27 whose South Carolina taxable income for the previous year was 28 fifteen thousand dollars or less may notify the provider of the 29 electric or natural gas service to his principal residence in writing 30 of his age and income status and in the notice must also consent to 31 the provider sharing this information and his payment information 32 with the Department of Social Services in the manner and under 33 the conditions provided by this section. The provider in turn shall 34 acknowledge receipt of this information in writing. Upon receipt 35 of this information, the provider of the electric or natural gas 36 service may not discontinue service to that person’s principal 37 residence for nonpayment of charges until forty-five days after it 38 has notified the Department of Social Services of the nonpayment 39 and the planned discontinuance of service. The department during 40 this time shall make an investigation of the circumstances of that 41 person, determine what state or other benefits or utility assistance

1 [3341] 1 1 may be available, and provide whatever other assistance to that 2 person it can.” 3 4 SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the 5 Governor. 6 ----XX---- 7

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