A bill

 

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY ADDING CHAPTER 38 TO TITLE 6 SO AS TO ESTABLISH THE "HORSE CREEK REGIONAL PUBLIC SERVICE AUTHORITY"; TO PRESCRIBE ITS SERVICE TERRITORY IN AIKEN, EDGEFIELD, AND SALUDA COUNTIES; TO ESTABLISH THE AUTHORITY'S FUNCTIONS AND POWERS REGARDING WASTEWATER AND SEWAGE SERVICES; TO AUTHORIZE CONTRACTS WITH THE COUNTIES AND POLITICAL SUBDIVISIONS WITHIN AIKEN, ALLENDALE, BAMBERG, BARNWELL, CALHOUN, EDGEFIELD, MCCORMICK, ORANGEBURG, AND SALUDA COUNTIES; AND TO DISSOLVE THE AIKEN COUNTY PUBLIC SERVICE AUTHORITY AND REQUIRE ALL AIKEN COUNTY PUBLIC SERVICE AUTHORITY DOCUMENTS, ASSETS, AND LIABILITIES TO BE TRANSFERRED TO THE HORSE CREEK REGIONAL PUBLIC SERVICE AUTHORITY.

 

Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

 

SECTION 1.  Title 6 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

 

CHAPTER 38

 

Horse Creek Regional Public Service Authority

 

    Section 6-38-10. This chapter may be cited as the "Horse Creek Regional Public Service Authority."

 

    Section 6-38-20. (A) The Horse Creek Regional Public Service Authority, also referred to as "regional authority," is a body corporate and politic whose function is to provide wastewater and sewage services, within its service area. To that end, the regional authority is empowered to construct such reservoirs, wells, treatment facilities, impounding dams or dikes, canals, conduits, aqueducts, tunnels, water distribution facilities, water mains and water lines, and appurtenant facilities, as in the opinion of the authority as may be considered necessary, and to acquire such land, rights of way, easements, machinery, apparatus, and equipment as is considered useful.

    (B) The regional authority is empowered to acquire, construct, operate, maintain, improve, and enlarge facilities which provide for the collection, treatment, disposal, and recycling of wastewater and sewage at any point within its service area, wherever such facilities are found by the authority to be necessary for the public health and the protection of the environment; to make such facilities available to private persons, private corporations, and governmental entities as authorized by this chapter; and to finance the cost of such facilities by the means made available to the authority by the provisions of this chapter.

    (C) In order to perform services and functions related to the provision of wastewater and sewage collection, treatment, disposal, recycling, and related public works activities, the regional authority is authorized to contract with any of the following counties and any political subdivision therein: Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, Edgefield, McCormick, Orangeburg, and Saluda counties.

    (D) Without in any way limiting the provisions of this section, the service territory of the regional authority shall be Aiken, Edgefield, and Saluda counties.

 

    Section 6-38-30. (A) The regional authority shall be comprised of nine members, six of whom shall be resident electors of Aiken County, two of whom shall be resident electors of Edgefield County, and one of whom shall be a resident elector of Saluda County. No more than five members may be elected public officials.

    (B) The Aiken County members of the regional authority shall be appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of a majority of the Legislative Delegation of Aiken County.

    (C) The Edgefield County members of the regional authority shall be appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of a majority of the Legislative Delegation of Edgefield County.

    (D) The Saluda County members of the regional authority shall be appointed by the Governor upon the recommendation of a majority of the Legislative Delegation of Saluda County.

    (E)(1) The terms of office for all regional authority members and their successors shall be for four years. All members shall hold office until their successors have been appointed and qualify. Any vacancy occurring for any reason among the members of the regional authority shall be filled for the remainder of the unexpired term by the same procedure for appointment.

       (2) Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (E)(1), of those members originally appointed, three of the resident electors of Aiken County and one member of Edgefield County shall be appointed for a term of two years and three members from Aiken County, one member of Edgefield County and one member of Saluda County shall be appointed for four years. Following the original terms described in this item, all member terms shall be for four years.

    (F) The members of the regional authority may fix or change the compensation or other benefits, including insurance benefits and per diem for the members of the regional authority. Reimbursable expenses actually incurred while on official business must not exceed the amounts authorized for members of state boards, committees, and commissions, and insurance benefits must not exceed those provided for state employees.

 

    Section 6-38-40. Subject to the limitations set forth in this section, the regional authority is fully empowered to acquire, construct, operate, maintain, improve, and extend facilities that enable it to collect, treat, recycle, and dispose of wastewater and sewage, including drainage, to persons, firms, corporations, municipal corporations, political subdivisions, and the United States Government, or any agencies thereof, at any point within its service area. To that end, the regional authority shall have the powers to:

    (1) have perpetual succession;

    (2) sue and be sued;

    (3) adopt, use, and alter a corporate seal;

    (4) define a quorum for its meetings;

    (5) establish a principal office;

    (6) make bylaws for the management and regulation of its affairs;

    (7) build, construct, maintain, and operate canals, aqueducts, ditches, tunnels, culverts, flumes, conduits, mains, pipes, dikes, dams, water reservoirs, treatment facilities, and appurtenant facilities;

    (8) build, construct, maintain, and operate sewage treatment plants and sewage collection systems;

    (9) build, construct, operate, maintain, improve, and enlarge facilities, which provide for the collection, impoundment, retention, transmission, treatment, recycling, and disposal of wastewater;

    (10) build, construct, maintain, and improve drainage systems;

    (11) acquire and operate any type of machinery, appliances, or appurtenances, necessary or useful to discharge the functions committed to the regional authority by this chapter;

    (12) accept gifts or grants of services, properties, or monies from the United States or this State, or any of its agencies, under such conditions as the United States, this State, or such agency shall prescribe;

    (13) sell wastewater services for agricultural, industrial, commercial, residential, domestic, or related uses;

    (14) prescribe rates and regulations under which wastewater services shall be sold or provided;

    (15) subject to the provisions of this section, enter into contracts to furnish services for any or all of the collection, treatment, recycling, and disposal of wastewater, sewage, or both, upon such terms as the parties thereto shall approve, with persons, private corporations, municipal corporations, public bodies, public agencies, and with the United States Government, or any agencies thereof;

    (16) prescribe regulations fixing the conditions under which services shall be provided;

    (17) prescribe such regulations as the regional authority considers necessary to protect from pollution all water in its canals, aqueducts, reservoirs, or distribution systems;

    (18) prescribe such regulations as the regional authority considers necessary to ensure the efficient use of wastewater and sewage collection, treatment, and disposal resources within its service area;

    (19) make contracts of all sorts and to execute all instruments necessary or convenient for the carrying on of the business of the regional authority;

    (20) lease or sell and convey lands or interests therein;

    (21) make use of county and state highway rights of way in which to lay pipes and lines, in such manner and under such reasonable conditions as the appropriate officials in charge of such rights of way shall approve;

    (22) alter and change county and state highways wherever necessary in order that the regional authority may discharge the functions committed to it, in such manner and under such reasonable conditions as the appropriate officials in charge of such highways shall approve;

    (23) acquire, by purchase, gift, or through the exercise of eminent domain, all land, interests therein, easements, or rights of way, which the regional authority shall consider necessary to enable it to fully and adequately discharge all functions committed to it. The power herein granted shall be considered to include the power to acquire protective areas of land adjacent to any of its facilities;

    (24) exercise the power of eminent domain for any corporate function. The power of eminent domain may be exercised through any procedure prescribed by general law as it may be amended or expanded from time to time;

    (25) appoint officers, agents, employees, and servants, to prescribe the duties of such, to fix their compensation, and to determine if and to what extent they shall be bonded for the faithful performance of their duties;

    (26) make contracts for construction, engineering, legal, and other services, with or without competitive bidding;

    (27) borrow money and to make and issue negotiable bonds, notes, and other evidences of indebtedness, payable from all or any part of the revenues derived from the operation of its system and facilities. The sums borrowed may be those needed to pay all costs incident to the construction and establishment of the facilities, and any extension, addition, and improvement thereto, including engineering costs, construction costs, the sum needed to capitalize and pay interest for a period of three years from the date of delivery of the bonds, such sum as is needed to supply working capital to place the facilities in operation, and all other expenses of any sort that the regional authority may incur in establishing, extending, and enlarging its system or the facilities. Neither the faith and credit of the State of South Carolina, nor of any county, municipality, or political subdivision of the State shall be pledged for the payment of the principal and interest of the obligations, and there shall be on the face of each obligation a statement, plainly worded, to that effect. Neither the members of the regional authority nor any person signing the obligations shall be personally liable thereon. To the end that a convenient procedure for borrowing money may be prescribed, the regional authority shall be fully empowered to avail itself of all power granted by general law for the issuance or refinancing of revenue bonds by political subdivisions of the State, including future amendments and modifications thereto. In exercising the power conferred upon the regional authority by such general law, the regional authority may make all pledges and covenants authorized by any provision thereof, and may confer upon the holders of its securities all rights and liens authorized by such general law. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the regional authority is specifically authorized to:

       (a) covenant and agree that upon it being adjudged in default as to the payment of any installment of principal or interest upon any obligation issued by it or in default as to the performance of any covenant or undertaking made by it, that in such event, the principal of all obligations of such issue may be declared forthwith due and payable, notwithstanding that any of them may not have then matured;

       (b) confer upon a corporate trustee the power to make disposition of the proceeds from all borrowings and of all revenues derived from the operation of the facilities, in accordance with and in the order of priority prescribed by the resolutions adopted by the regional authority as an incident to the issuance of any notes, bonds, or other types of securities;

       (c) dispose of its obligations at public or private sale, and upon such terms and conditions as it shall approve;

       (d) make such provisions for the redemption of any obligations issued by it prior to their stated maturity, with or without premium, and on such terms and conditions as the regional authority shall approve;

       (e) covenant and agree that any reserve fund established to further secure the payment of the principal and interest of any obligations shall be in a fixed amount;

       (f) limit or prohibit free service to any person, firm, corporation, municipal corporation, or any subdivision or division of the State;

       (g) prescribe the procedure, if any, by which the terms of the contract with the holders of its obligations may be amended, the number of obligations whose holders must consent thereto, and the manner in which such consent shall be given;

       (h) prescribe the events of default and the terms and conditions upon which all or any obligations shall become or may be declared due before maturity, and the terms and conditions upon which such declaration and its consequences may be waived; notwithstanding any contrary provision of law, revenue bonds payable from the revenues of the system or systems of the regional authority shall be payable from and secured by a pledge of the net revenues of such system or systems remaining after provisions shall have been made for the operation and maintenance thereof;

       (i) provide that all bonds of any issue mature at a fixed time in lieu of serial maturities;

    (28) to establish minimum standards and guidelines for wastewater and sewage facilities throughout the regional authority's service area;

    (29) do all other acts and things necessary or convenient to carry out any function or power committed or granted to the regional authority.

 

    Section 6-38-50. The rates charged for services furnished by the regional authority are not subject to supervision or regulation by any state bureau, board, commission, or like instrumentality, or agency thereof.

 

    Section 6-38-60. All property of the regional authority is exempt from all ad valorem taxes levied by the State, county, or any municipality, division, subdivision, or agency thereof, directly or indirectly.

 

    Section 6-38-70. The regional authority shall conduct its affairs on the fiscal year basis employed by the State. The regional authority's fiscal year shall begin July first of each year and shall end on the thirtieth day of June of the succeeding year. Within one hundred eighty days of the end of each fiscal year, an audit of its affairs shall be made by certified public accountants, of good standing, to be designated by the authority. Copies of such audits, incorporated into an annual report of the regional authority, shall be filed in the office of the clerks of court for Aiken, Edgefield, and Saluda counties, with the Aiken, Edgefield, and Saluda legislative delegations, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the President of the Senate, and with the Secretary of State.

 

    Section 6-38-80. (A) It is unlawful for any person to wilfully injure or destroy, or in any manner hurt, damage, tamper with, or impair the facilities of the regional authority, or any part of the same, or any machinery, apparatus, or equipment of the regional authority, or to turn, raise, remove, or in any manner tamper with any cover of any manhole, filter, bed, or other appurtenance of any sewer except in accordance with the regulations promulgated by the regional authority. Any person who violates the provisions of this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be fined not more than five thousand dollars, and may be imprisoned for not more than one year at the discretion of the court. Any person who violates the provisions of this section shall also be liable to pay all damages suffered by the regional authority.

    (B) Any person violating any regulation or any permit, permit condition, or final determination as required by state or federal law is subject to a civil penalty not to exceed five thousand dollars for each day of a violation.

    (C) All penalties assessed under this section must be held as debt and payable to the regional authority by the person against whom they have been charged and shall constitute a lien against the property of the person.

    (D) The regional authority is empowered to conduct vulnerability assessments, prepare emergency response plans, and address threats from terrorist attacks, or other intentional actions designed to significantly affect the public health.

 

    Section 6-38-90. All revenues derived by the regional authority from the operation of its facilities, which may not be required to discharge covenants made by it in issuing bonds, notes, or other obligations authorized by this chapter, shall be disposed of by the regional authority from time to time for purposes germane to the functions of the regional authority.

 

    Section 6-38-100.  All municipalities, public bodies, and public agencies operating water district systems, wastewater systems, or sewage systems in any part of Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, Edgefield, McCormick, Orangeburg, and Saluda counties are authorized to enter into contracts for wastewater service, sewage service, or both from the regional authority. Such contracts shall extend over such periods of time and shall contain such terms and conditions as shall be mutually agreeable to the regional authority and to the contracting municipalities, public bodies, or public agencies.

 

    Section 6-38-110.  Any amendment or repeal of this chapter shall not operate to impair the obligation of any contract made by the regional authority pursuant to any power conferred by this chapter.

 

SECTION 2.  As of September 30, 2026, the Aiken County Public Service Authority, established by Act 542 (1973) shall be abolished. All assets and liabilities of the Aiken County Public Service Authority, as well as all documents, recordings, maps, photographs, or documentary materials, regardless of physical form or electronic format including, but not limited to, accounts, reports, audits, and personnel records, of the Aiken County Public Service Authority, must be transferred to the Horse Creek Regional Public Service Authority on September 30, 2026.

 

SECTION 3.  If any section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this act is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such holding shall not affect the constitutionality or validity of the remaining portions of this act, the General Assembly hereby declaring that it would have passed this act, and each and every section, subsection, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, and word thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases, or words hereof may be declared to be unconstitutional, invalid, or otherwise ineffective.

 

SECTION 4.  This act takes effect on September 30, 2026. However, all necessary action shall be taken prior to the effective date to ensure that the Aiken County Public Service Authority's assets, liabilities, and documents, recordings, maps, photographs, and documentary materials are transferred to the Horse Creek Regional Public Service Authority on September 30, 2026.

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