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H 3968

Electromagnetic Pulse Protection

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Case Brittain and 30 co-sponsors

SCEMD must craft a statewide EMP/GMD hardening plan and fund it, while utilities offer residential EMP protection options financed on customers' bills.

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Bill Summary · H 3968

Summary — H 3968: “Electromagnetic Pulse Protection” (and related materials)

Note: The file provided contains two distinct legislative texts. The primary subject requested — Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Protection — is a proposed South Carolina statute adding Article 29 to Chapter 1, Title 1. The same packet also includes a separate Massachusetts House draft (House No. 3968 / HD 1240) about property tax exemptions for seniors and persons with disabilities; a brief note about that text is included at the end.

Purpose and intent

The South Carolina bill directs the state’s emergency management agency and the General Assembly to plan for and fund measures to protect the State’s critical infrastructure from electromagnetic pulses (EMP) and geomagnetic disturbances (GMD). It seeks to (1) require a statewide plan to harden critical infrastructure and provide alternative energy options, (2) compel electric distributors to offer EMP-protection options to residential customers with billing-payment plans, and (3) create grant programs and appropriations to pay for implementation.

Key provisions

  • Definitions
    • “Critical infrastructure” — systems/assets whose incapacity or destruction would severely impact security, economic security, public health or safety (examples listed: government, utilities, healthcare, first responders, public schools).
    • “Electromagnetic pulse” — burst of electromagnetic energy (including human-made EMPs and solar-driven geomagnetic disturbances).
  • SC Emergency Management Division (SCEMD) responsibilities
    • Must add a detailed outline to its emergency preparedness plan describing steps to harden critical infrastructure against EMP/GMD and to identify alternative energy sources for extended grid outages.
    • Deadline to complete and distribute the plan to all municipalities: January 1, 2026.
  • Utility/customer programs
    • All electrical power distributors in the State (including utilities outside PSC jurisdiction) must offer a program to residential customers who request EMP/GMD protection for personal assets.
    • Utilities must allow customers to have protection installed by the utility and to finance it via a payment plan added to the monthly utility bill.
  • Grants and funding
    • Municipalities or critical infrastructure entities that comply with the SCEMD plan within one year are eligible for grants from the General Assembly to assist funding.
    • The General Assembly must provide multiyear appropriations beginning in the 2025–2026 Appropriations Act to fund grants administered through SCEMD (part of the Office of the Adjutant General).
  • Effective date
    • The act takes effect upon approval by the Governor.

Who is affected

  • State agencies (SCEMD) — must produce and distribute the plan.
  • Municipal governments and critical infrastructure operators — required to implement plan elements to qualify for grants; potential recipients of grants.
  • Electric utilities (including ones outside PSC jurisdiction) — required to offer optional EMP protection programs and billing payment plans; may incur installation/operational costs.
  • Residential customers — may opt-in to utility-provided EMP protection and pay via monthly bills.
  • General Assembly — required to appropriate multiyear funds for grants.

Fiscal and implementation notes

  • The bill mandates but does not specify total funding levels; it requires the General Assembly to appropriate necessary multiyear funding starting 2025–2026.
  • The bill does not prescribe technical standards, certification mechanisms, or detailed eligibility criteria for grants; those implementation details would be set by SCEMD and grant rules.
  • Potential fiscal impacts include: state appropriations for grants, utility costs to offer/install protection (partly shifted to customers if they opt in), and administrative costs for SCEMD to develop/distribute plans and manage grants.

Rationale cited in text

  • The bill cites the Carrington Event (1859), recent solar activity (May/September 2024), and risks from potential hostile actor EMP attacks, arguing severe cascading failures (power, water, healthcare, refrigeration) could cause mass casualties and prolonged infrastructure disruption.

Note on the Massachusetts text found in the same file

The packet also includes a Massachusetts House draft (House No. 3968 / HD 1240) that would amend Chapter 59, §5 to (1) create or clarify a property tax abatement/exemption for elderly homeowners with disabilities (as determined by “MassAbility”), (2) provide automatic renewal of the exemption in subsequent years absent evidence of ineligibility, (3) cap an abatement at $200 where tied to a water/sewer tax-shift calculation, and (4) require state reimbursement to municipalities for amounts abated. That is a separate policy and applies to Massachusetts property tax law.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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