Senator Gary Siplin, District 19 — Press Release

Sen. Siplin Wins First Endorsement for Additional Energy Assistance for Low-Income Families

Senate Bill 100 Passes from First Committee with Bipartisan Support

Tallahassee — Legislation being sponsored by State Senator Gary Siplin, D-Orlando, that will reallocate unclaimed utility dollars to assist needy families with utility assistance made its way through its first committee stop on Monday.

The bill – Senate Bill 100 – proposes to take unclaimed utility deposits and funnel them into an Energy Affordability Trust Fund within the Department of Community Affairs to supplement the State’s Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), which helps low income households in all of Florida’s 67 counties meet their immediate home energy needs.

“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 on Monday, where the bill passed unanimously.

Currently, unclaimed utility deposits are transferred into the State School Trust Fund, which was created in 1838 as a federal trust condition for establishing a public school system in the State.  In recent years, however, the State School Trust Fund has accounted for less than one percent of all state and required local public school funding combined, while receiving in over $100 million dollars in unclaimed property transfers annually.

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.

“Elderly and low-income residents who are in crisis should not be forced to choose between keeping their lights on and buying groceries or refilling prescriptions.  It makes sense to put these unclaimed utility dollars to use to help provide utilities.”

The bill is poised to be heard in the Environmental Preservation and Conservation committee next.

Identical legislation has been filed by Rep. Barbara Watson, D-Miami Gardens, in the Florida House of Representatives.

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