A bill to reallocate unclaimed utility monies to assist needy families with utility assistance passed its first committee stop on Monday.
Sponsored by Senator Gary Siplin (D-Orlando), Senate Bill 770 and SB 772, proposes to take unclaimed utility deposits and funnel them into an Energy Affordability Trust Fund withing the Department of Community Affairs to supplement the State’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps low income households in Florida.
“This is a great opportunity for us to help our most vulnerable and needy citizens maintain a basic necessity of life,” Siplin stated after the Communications, Energy, and Public Utilities Committee meeting, where the bills passed in a 12-1 vote.
Currently, unclaimed utility deposits are transferred in the State School Trust Fund which accounts for less than one percent of all state and required local public school funding combined.
Siplin said his office has been inundated with calls for utilities assistance over the past several months, which was his motivation for filing this legislation.
Both bills are poised to be heard in the Environmental Preservation and Conservation committee next.
Identical legislation has been filed by Rep. Dwayne Taylor, D-Daytona Beach, in the Florida House of Representatives.
