SC House passes bipartisan Rate Payer Protection Act championed by Democrats

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA – January 31 – The South Carolina House of Representatives passed in second reading H. 3614, which would prohibit a public utility from taking action against an employee who reported wrongdoing, on Tuesday.

The “Rate Payer Protection Act” was sponsored by a bipartisan group of lawmakers, including Rep. Russell Ott (D-Calhoun) and Rep. Roger Kirby (D-Florence). It now heads to the Senate.

“Today’s vote is an important step in holding public utilities accountable to the rate payers,” Ott said. “This bill does two things: protects public utility employees when they do the right thing by reporting wrongdoing and protects the rate payer from public utilities engaging in that wrongdoing. I’m glad the House moved quickly on this bill and I’m hopeful our colleagues in the Senate will do the same.”

“We’ve seen public utilities be untruthful before,” Kirby said. “This bill will make it much harder for them to hide the truth from the public and retaliate against employees who have the courage to speak up. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle came together to make this legislation a priority and I’m confident that it will be signed into law soon.”

The House passed in second reading H. 3614 with overwhelming support on Tuesday afternoon by a vote of 114-0.

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