Horse Creek Public Service Authority

2025-2026 Bill 5321: Horse Creek Public Service Authority - South Carolina Legislature Online

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026
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H. 5321
STATUS INFORMATION
General Bill
Sponsors: Reps. Hixon, Clyburn, Taylor, Forrest, Oremus and Hartz
Document Path: LC-0206HA26.docx
Introduced in the House on March 4, 2026
Currently residing in the House Committee on
Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs
Summary: Horse Creek Public Service Authority
HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

Date

Body

Action Description with journal page number

3/4/2026

House

Introduced and read first time (
House Journal-page 88
)

3/4/2026

House

Referred to Committee on
Agriculture, Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs
(
House Journal-page 88
)

View the latest
legislative information
at the website
VERSIONS OF THIS BILL
03/04/2026

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.

B
e it enacted by the
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

S
ECTION 1.
T
itle 6 of the S.C. Code is amended by adding:

C
HAPTER 38

H
orse Creek Regional Public Service Authority

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

S
ection
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.

S
ection
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.

S
ection
6-38-40
.
S
ubject 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.

S
ection
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.

S
ection
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.

S
ection
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.

S
ection
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.

S
ection
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.

S
ection
6-38-10
0. 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.

S
ection
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.

S
ECTION 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.

S
ECTION 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.

S
ECTION 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.

----XX----

This web page was last updated on March 4, 2026 at 5:29 PM