COLUMBIA, S.C. - A bill that limits the governor's power to remove members of the state-owned utility board is headed to the House floor for debate.

Lawmakers sought the change after a number of board members were removed by former Gov. Jim Hodges and Gov. Mark Sanford before finishing their seven-year terms.

"There's been a lot of concern expressed by the (credit) rating services, by a number of groups about the instability of the board," said Rep. Bill Sandifer, R-Seneca.

On Tuesday, the House Labor Commerce and Industry Committee amended a Senate version of the bill to reduce the number of members representing electric co-ops to two from four.

"That has been a point of a great deal of contention," Sandifer said, adding people didn't want one dominant group on the 11-member board.

Sandifer said the bill also says the utility's assets cannot be sold without the approval of the General Assembly.

"I think that's always been understood, but I'm not sure it was specifically spelled out in the code," he said. "This makes it absolutely crystal clear."

Sanford denies he wants to sell the state-owned utility Santee Cooper, but his office was involved in hiring an investment bank that studied the utility's assets and to determine how to maximize the amount South Carolina makes from it.

The report by Credit Suisse First Boston said the utility was the state's single biggest asset.

Santee Cooper, one of the largest public-owned utilities in the nation, provides power to more than 138,000 retail customers in Berkeley, Georgetown, and Horry counties and supplies power to the municipalities of Bamberg and Georgetown, 32 large industries, and one military installation in North Charleston.

The electric and water utility generates the power distributed by the state's 20 electric cooperatives, providing power in all 46 counties in the state serving over 625,000 customers.