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[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3222 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 3222
To express the sense of Congress regarding the need for a nationwide
moratorium on electric and natural gas utility disconnections during a
Government shutdown, to ensure that electric service is not
disconnected for electric consumers during certain lapses in
appropriations, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 19, 2025
Mr. Markey (for himself, Mrs. Gillibrand, Mr. Blumenthal, Mr. Wyden,
and Ms. Duckworth) introduced the following bill; which was read twice
and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To express the sense of Congress regarding the need for a nationwide
moratorium on electric and natural gas utility disconnections during a
Government shutdown, to ensure that electric service is not
disconnected for electric consumers during certain lapses in
appropriations, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Shut-Offs During Shutdowns
Act''.
SEC. 2. SENSE OF CONGRESS REGARDING THE NEED FOR A NATIONWIDE
MORATORIUM ON ELECTRIC AND NATURAL GAS UTILITY
DISCONNECTIONS DURING A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN.
It is the sense of Congress that, for the duration of any lapse in
interim continuing appropriations or full-year appropriations for the
Department of Health and Human Services, each relevant State regulatory
authority and each electric or natural gas utility that sells electric
energy or natural gas to a consumer should ensure that--
(1) no electric or natural gas service to a consumer is
terminated based on inability to pay;
(2) reasonable efforts are made to safely reconnect
electric and natural gas consumers that have lost service;
(3) no electric or natural gas consumer is charged for
reconnection services;
(4) late fees and other penalties are waived for electric
and natural gas consumers; and
(5) there are no increases in cost-of-service to electric
and natural gas consumers.
SEC. 3. PROCEDURES FOR TERMINATION OF ELECTRIC SERVICE.
Section 115(g) of the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of
1978 (16 U.S.C. 2625(g)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (2)--
(A) by striking ``such service may not be
terminated.'' in the undesignated matter following
subparagraph (B);
(B) in subparagraph (B)--
(i) by striking the comma at the end and
inserting ``; and''; and
(ii) by striking ``(B) he is'' and
inserting the following:
``(ii) is'';
(C) in subparagraph (A)--
(i) by striking ``, or'' at the end and
inserting ``; or''; and
(ii) by striking ``(A) he is'' and
inserting the following:
``(i) is''; and
(D) in the matter preceding clause (i) (as so
redesignated)--
(i) by striking ``and such consumer
establishes that'' and inserting ``if the
consumer establishes that the consumer''; and
(ii) by striking ``(2) during any period
when termination of service to an electric
consumer'' and inserting the following:
``(B) no electric service to an electric consumer
may be terminated during any period in which such
termination'';
(2) in paragraph (1)--
(A) by striking ``, and'' at the end and inserting
a semicolon; and
(B) by striking ``(1) no'' and inserting the
following:
``(A) no'';
(3) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A) (as so
redesignated), by striking ``The procedures'' and inserting the
following:
``(1) Procedures.--The procedures'';
(4) in the undesignated matter following paragraph
(1)(B)(ii) (as so redesignated), by striking ``Such
procedures'' and inserting the following:
``(2) Requirement.--The procedures under paragraph (1)'';
(5) in paragraph (1) (as so redesignated), by adding at the
end the following:
``(C) no electric service to an electric consumer
may be terminated during any period in which interim
continuing appropriations or full-year appropriations
are not in effect for the Department of Health and
Human Services.''; and
(6) by adding at the end the following:
``(3) Recovery of certain costs.--Costs incurred by an
electric utility to comply with paragraph (1)(C) may not be
retroactively assessed on electric consumers for whom electric
service would have been terminated if not for the requirements
of that paragraph, but a State regulatory authority, after
notice and an opportunity for comment, may establish an
alternative mechanism that permits an electric utility to
recover those costs if the State regulatory authority
determines that the costs--
``(A) are substantial;
``(B) were prudently incurred; and
``(C) cannot reasonably be recovered through--
``(i) regulated rates or market prices for
the electric energy or any services sold by the
electric utility; or
``(ii) any supplemental funding received by
the State or electric utility for the purpose
of responding to the applicable lapse in
appropriations.''.
<all>
Introduced in Senate
Read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources.
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