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Mount Pleasant SC Homes for Sale, Mount Pleasant SC Real Estate for sale, Mount Pleasant SC Condos, Mount Pleasant SC Homes for Sale Listings, Charleston SC Fractional Homes for Sale
Coastal Insurance LegislationCoastal South Carolina Insurance CrisisThe South Carolina General Assembly is taking up bills aimed at easing the coastal Carolina insurance crisis that has insurers dropping policies and raising premiums out of the reach for some worried about hurricane damage.
It's a tough issue for South Carolina legislators at a time when consumers want something done about soaring rates that the state long ago gave insurers the freedom to set. On Thursday, senators spent about an hour discussing three bills introduced by Sen. Ray Cleary, R-Murrells Inlet. Next week, a House subcommittee begins hearings on the issue and is calling on coastal residents to show up. "We need to get some homeowners up here," said Rep. Vida Miller, D-Pawleys Island, sponsor of one of the House bills. It's that type of public pressure during the past two years that prompted legislators to change the state's property tax laws and put the issue on the ballot in November. Gov. Mark Sanford and legislators recognize insurance costs and availability affect more than Carolina coastal homeowners. In Sanford's State of the State address this month, he said legislators should consider "market-based remedies that don't penalize people living at the opposite end of the state" and don't put a burden on taxpayers. Sanford wants a private-sector catastrophe fund, personal catastrophe savings accounts and tax breaks for people who invest in making their property more storm-resistant. The governor is working with the state Revenue Department on details of those plans and also plans to work with legislators, Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said Friday. One of Cleary's bills calls for free home inspections to allow South Carolina homeowners to learn how to make their property more storm-resistant. Sawyer said that meshes with one of Sanford's goals. Though coastal South Carolina property owners now bear the brunt, the issue will quickly envelop the state if the coastal economy is crippled by a slowdown in home sales and other side effects of insurance costs, Cleary said. "It's so important that we work together on it as a statewide issue," said Sen. Jim Ritchie, R-Spartanburg. Cleary wants to expand the state's wind pool, which helps insurers cover property in a thin coastal strip. It doesn't make sense that the pool covers all of Hilton Head and Kiawah islands but "in Horry County we only get four blocks," Cleary said. In the House, Miller's bill would expand the coverage to all property in coastal counties. Debate on the legislation comes as lawmakers say insurers are ripping people off. "I think it's unconscionable for the insurance industry to collect money for 20 years," and then as a more intense hurricane cycle appears to be looming, "just to start dumping that risk," said Sen. Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston. McConnell says he and Sen. Dick Elliott, D-North Myrtle Beach, are working on legislation to address the issue. Elliott said a staff attorney has been working on legislation for two months, looking at other states, and might have something ready next week. Cleary wants the issue on a fast track in a Legislature that can take two years to pass a bill. "We need the hearings now," he said. Some have complained about Insurance Director Eleanor Kitzman, a Sanford appointee and Cabinet member. Sen. Luke Rankin, R-Myrtle Beach, has filed a bill calling for the state's chief insurance regulator to be elected like North Carolina's. "Looking for a single scapegoat" such as Kitzman, is not a solution, Sawyer said. -Click Here to Email Me! - just ask!
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