AN ACT to empower water and sewer authorities during periods of public health emergencies to modify revenue collection practices and to fund programs of Payment assistance for persons of low income.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  G.S. 162A‑6(a) is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:

(9b)    To suspend standard revenue collection practices during a declared emergency in order to assure continuation of service during the emergency, and to apply grants and other federal, State, and local funds to replace revenues lost as a result of customer delinquency during the emergency. During a suspension of revenue collection practices under this subdivision, the authority may make accommodations, including the forgiveness of balances in arrears from low‑income customers, to the extent of and when required as a condition for receipt of the federal, State, or local funding. For purposes of this subdivision, declared emergency means the period of an emergency, as defined in G.S. 166A‑19.3, declared by one of the authorities set out in G.S. 166A‑19.20 or G.S. 155A‑19.22 for an area that includes all or part of the service area of the authority and low‑income means persons in households the annual income of which, adjusted for family size, is not more than sixty percent (60%) of the local area median family income as defined by the most recent figures published by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

SECTION 2.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2021.