H.B. No. 670 1-1 AN ACT 1-2 relating to the payment date of a utility bill for an elderly 1-3 person. 1-4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: 1-5 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. In this Act: 1-6 (1) "Elderly person" means a person who is 60 years of 1-7 age or older. 1-8 (2) "Utility" means an electric, gas, water, or 1-9 telephone utility that is operated by a public or private entity. 1-10 SECTION 2. PAYMENT DATE OF CERTAIN UTILITY BILLS. (a) On 1-11 request of an elderly person, a utility shall delay without penalty 1-12 the payment date of a bill for providing utility services to that 1-13 person until the 25th day after the date on which the bill is 1-14 issued. 1-15 (b) An elderly person may request that the utility implement 1-16 the delay for the most recent utility bill or for that utility bill 1-17 and each subsequent utility bill for which payment has not already 1-18 been delayed. 1-19 (c) The utility may require the requesting person to present 1-20 reasonable proof that the person is 60 years of age or older. 1-21 (d) This section applies only to an elderly person who is a 1-22 residential customer and who occupies the entire premises for which 1-23 a delay is requested. 1-24 (e) This section does not apply to a utility that does not 2-1 assess late payment charges on residential customers and that does 2-2 not suspend service before the 26th day after the date of the bill 2-3 for which collection action is taken and is regulated by the Public 2-4 Utility Regulatory Act (Article 1446c, Vernon's Texas Civil 2-5 Statutes). 2-6 SECTION 3. APPLICATION OF ACT. This Act applies only to a 2-7 utility bill issued on or after the effective date of this Act. A 2-8 utility bill issued before the effective date of this Act is 2-9 governed by the law in effect when the bill was issued, and that 2-10 law is continued in effect for that purpose. 2-11 SECTION 4. EMERGENCY. The importance of this legislation 2-12 and the crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an 2-13 emergency and an imperative public necessity that the 2-14 constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several 2-15 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended, 2-16 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its 2-17 passage, and it is so enacted.