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COLUMBIA - The General Assembly is taking up bills aimed at easing the
coastal 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 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 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 homeowners to
learn how to make their property more storm-resistant. Sawyer said that
meshes with one of Sanford's goals.
Though coastal 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.
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