Mount Pleasant property owner John Fill received a call this week from his insurance company. He had been a customer for 12 years and had not made a single claim, but the company, Allstate, told him his homeowners policy would not be renewed.

Lula Orr, a lifelong North Charleston resident who grew up two blocks from where she lives today, was recently dropped by her insurance company, State Farm. The 85-year-old owns three properties, two of which she rents out. She was a State Farm customer for 57 years.

Fill and Orr are looking for new insurance companies, but they have more in common: their homes are not in the wind pool, even though the state Director of Insurance Scott Richardson said this week the agency will expand the territory, effective March 30.

Gov. Mark Sanford and Richardson announced Thursday a plan they say will bring relief to embattled homeowners. The state's largest insurance companies have dropped customers such as Fill and Orr by the thousands since the summer. Others have seen rates increase by 400 percent or more.

"There is a basket of things here that are fundamentally based on trying to avoid mistakes that have happened in other places," Sanford said. "Florida, we do believe, got it wrong, and you've seen a mass exodus of many insurers from that marketplace."

Richardson said those companies are looking to do business in other states. He said tax incentives for homeowners and insurance companies will correct what many are calling a coastal insurance crisis in South Carolina.

The first part of the plan is the expansion of the wind pool, which extends coverage to portions of Johns, James and Edisto islands but does not include the peninsula, West Ashley, Mount Pleasant or North Charleston.

The tax incentives and other proposals will require legislation, which is being drafted and is expected to be introduced soon in the House and Senate.

"The wind pool expansion is the Band-Aid that needed to be applied," said Rep. Harry Cato, R-Travelers Rest, chairman of the House Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee. "Now, we're looking to have the surgery to make sure we're improving the system."

Officially called the S.C. Wind and Hail Underwriting Association, the wind pool is a consortium of insurance companies that do business in the state.

--Redraws the wind pool territory to include the areas in the greatest level of crisis. It would also include a tiered rating system, which probably would result in rate increases for some homeowners. Under that system, the farther from the coast, the lower the rate would be.

--Offers income tax credits for the purchase of building supplies, such as storm shutters and other measures to make homes more resistant to hurricane damage.

"There's nothing you can do that will help consumers more than make the insurance companies think that you are a market-driven state," he said.

Richardson couldn't immediately provide specific figures for projected premium rate savings, or the number of new homes or businesses that would be covered in the wind pool expansion.

Richardson was able to move the line to cover more ground under an emergency order that can last up to two years. The Legislature will have to approve any permanent shift.

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, said the Senate will assess whether to expand the line even farther inland. "It still doesn't answer the problem of insurance companies being able to collect decades of premiums and just drop people cold," said McConnell, who has also introduced reform legislation.

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