Coastal South Carolinians, especially those along the water's edge, are clamoring for relief from astronomical property insurance. Some want relief at the expense of all who must buy property insurance, and the issue of fairness will be the legislative battle.

Senate President Pro Tem Glenn McConnell, R-Charleston, said Thursday that insurance companies are using hurricane fears to take advantage of consumers, and regulators are doing too little to solve the problem.

McConnell's solution is the S.C. Hurricane Underwriting Association that would force insurers to write coastal insurance coverage on their own or offer it through that state-run pool.

Since last fall, Gov. Mark Sanford has supported a three-part program: a catastrophe fund, accounts to encourage homeowners to save for storm losses and tax deductions for mitigation measures that reward people for making their property more resistant to a storm's damages.

Many want to see price controls, but others vehemently oppose such measures. Others, such as Doug Wendel, chief executive of Burroughs & Chapin Co. Inc. of Horry County, say, "There's going to be a lot of blood in the streets of Myrtle Beach if something doesn't happen."

South Carolina isn't the only state experiencing astronomical insurance premium hikes or seeing insurance companies drop coverage because of the potential for a drain on profits. In Florida, according to USA Today, retirees and middle-income families saw monthly home payments rise by $50 to $500 a month. "Annual premiums for businesses rose as much as tens of thousands of dollars, cutting into profits and hurting property values."

As a result, Florida lawmakers enacted insurance reforms last month to give home owners a 5 percent to 40 percent break on hurricane-insurance bills. Unfortunately, the rate cuts might cause the blood loss that Wendel imagined in Myrtle Beach because the plan included a $70 billion catastrophe fund that doesn't have any money right now. The fund collects premiums from companies and provides lower-cost backup coverage to brand-name private carriers, cutting their reliance on expensive policies purchased mostly from offshore "reinsurance" firms.

McConnell's program would begin with $100 million for a catastrophe fund that the legislature set up last year. It would grow in future years, but it is the immediate danger that poses the threat. South Carolina has been hit by only two major storms in the last 55 years, but no one can predict a storm's path or the year one will strike. If a storm is bad enough to wipe out the fund, the association would have a huge liability.

Sanford's multilayer plan calling for a fund, catastrophe savings accounts and tax deductions to make property more resistant to a storm's damages seems a good plan.

McConnell's plan has a good element that the governor could support, according to his spokesman. It would bar insurance cancellations 100 days before the hurricane season starts. That plan would bring assurance that property was covered, even if the policy was expensive.

People on the opposite side of the state shouldn't be penalized to cover property along the coast, even if the $16 billion tourism industry contributes much to the state's financial coffers. Upstate industry also contributes to the same coffer.

And the battle will be in the fairness of any plan.