Life Insurance

Legislation that offers tax incentives to homeowners for strengthening their houses against storms, and to companies for expanding coastal insurance offerings, cleared a House subcommittee Thursday.

Tuesday is the deadline to hand a bill over to the Senate but Committee Chairman Harry Cato, R-Travelers Rest, said he is not worried about it. He said he is certain the Senate, which is working on its own version of coastal insurance laws, will accept the bill and the two will work out a compromise before the session ends in June.

The hard part was how to assist lower-income people in fixing up their houses, but when a study showed $6 million should be enough for the grant program, it seemed worthwhile, Cato said.

Rep. Skipper Perry, R-Aiken, repeated his suggestion that the assistance for home upgrades should also be available to owners of vacation homes, but the subcommittee did not go along because of the possible cost.

It allows tax credits for a catastrophe savings account for people who may have enough money to insure themselves, credits for supplies to upgrade homes, and requires insurance companies to offer cost reductions if homeowners upgrade.

Rep. Nikki Haley, R-Lexington, added a provision that requires the Insurance Department to hold a public hearing each year in the coastal areas to discuss availability and rates and whether the wind pool needs to be adjusted. The pool is supposed to be the last-ditch coverage for people who agencies refuse to insure for wind damage because of high risk.

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