Senate File 2084 - Introduced
SENATE FILE
BY HATCH
Passed Senate, Date Passed House, Date
Vote: Ayes Nays Vote: Ayes Nays
Approved
A BILL FOR
1 An Act to prohibit the disconnection of gas or electric utility
2 service to households with residents who would suffer a health
3 risk, providing for a health risk utility tax credit, and
4 making penalties applicable.
5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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PAG LIN
1 1 Section 1. NEW SECTION. 135.153 UTILITY DISCONNECTION ==
1 2 HEALTH RISK.
1 3 1. The department, with assistance from the utilities
1 4 board, shall adopt rules which shall be uniform with respect
1 5 to all public utilities furnishing gas or electricity,
1 6 prohibiting the disconnection of service to households with a
1 7 resident who would suffer a health risk upon such
1 8 disconnection, as certified by the department. This
1 9 subsection applies both to regulated utilities and to
1 10 municipally owned utilities and unincorporated villages that
1 11 own their own distribution systems. A violation of this
1 12 subsection subjects the utility to a civil penalty to be
1 13 levied by the utilities board under section 476.51.
1 14 2. If a household includes one or more residents under the
1 15 age of eighteen or at least sixty years of age, the department
1 16 may certify that such resident of that household would suffer
1 17 a health risk upon disconnection of service. The department
1 18 shall adopt criteria for such certification by rule which
1 19 shall include a requirement that the household income be less
1 20 than two hundred percent of the federal poverty level as
1 21 defined by the most recently revised poverty income guidelines
1 22 published by the United States department of health and human
1 23 services.
1 24 Sec. 2. Section 422.33, Code Supplement 2005, is amended
1 25 by adding the following new subsection:
1 26 NEW SUBSECTION. 20. The taxes imposed under this division
1 27 shall be reduced by a health risk utility tax credit. A rate=
1 28 regulated public utility as defined in section 476.1 which has
1 29 incurred a monetary loss due to a failure to pay for gas or
1 30 electricity because of the certification of one or more
1 31 households with a resident who would suffer a health risk
1 32 under section 135.153 is entitled to the tax credit for the
1 33 tax year in which the monetary loss was incurred. The amount
1 34 of the credit is equal to the total amount of monetary loss
1 35 incurred by the public utility in the tax year for which the
2 1 tax credit is being applied.
2 2 Sec. 3. Section 476.20, subsection 3, Code 2005, is
2 3 amended by adding the following new unnumbered paragraph:
2 4 NEW UNNUMBERED PARAGRAPH. Notwithstanding subsection 1, a
2 5 public utility furnishing gas or electricity shall not
2 6 disconnect service to a residence that is a household with a
2 7 resident who would suffer a health risk upon such
2 8 disconnection, as certified by the Iowa department of public
2 9 health under section 135.153. A rate=regulated public utility
2 10 that incurs a monetary loss from a failure to pay for gas or
2 11 electricity services because of the continuation of such
2 12 services required by this paragraph may claim a tax credit
2 13 under section 422.33, subsection 20.
2 14 EXPLANATION
2 15 This bill relates to the disconnection of electric or gas
2 16 utility service for households with residents susceptible to a
2 17 health risk. The bill provides the Iowa department of public
2 18 health authority to adopt rules to certify that a household
2 19 with one or more children under the age of 18 or with a person
2 20 who is 60 years of age or older is a household with a resident
2 21 who would suffer a health risk if electric or gas service is
2 22 disconnected to the household. The department shall adopt
2 23 certification criteria by rule which require such households
2 24 to have an income not greater than 200 percent of the federal
2 25 poverty guidelines. The bill provides that a public utility
2 26 providing gas or electric service cannot disconnect service to
2 27 a household with a resident that would suffer a health risk,
2 28 as certified by the department. Public utilities restricted
2 29 from disconnection under the bill include all regulated
2 30 utilities, municipally owned utilities, and unincorporated
2 31 villages that own their own distribution systems. A utility
2 32 that disconnects a household that has been certified as a
2 33 household suffering a health risk by the Iowa department of
2 34 public health may be subject to a civil penalty levied by the
2 35 Iowa utilities board of the department of commerce in an
3 1 amount of not less than $100 and not more than $2,500 per
3 2 violation.
3 3 The bill provides for a health risk utility tax credit for
3 4 public utilities for the amount of monetary loss incurred by
3 5 the public utility due to the requirement to continue services
3 6 to a household described in the bill. The health risk utility
3 7 tax credit is a credit against corporate income tax imposed
3 8 under Code chapter 422, division III, and is available to
3 9 rate=regulated public utilities but not municipally owned
3 10 utilities, electric public utilities with fewer than 10,000
3 11 customers, electric cooperative corporations and associations,
3 12 or gas public utilities with fewer than 2,000 customers. The
3 13 amount of the credit is equal to the total amount of monetary
3 14 loss incurred by the public utility in the tax year for which
3 15 the credit is being applied.
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