Lawmaker says flood premiums shouldn’t increase

By Scott Miller , Staff Writer

To prevent a possible jump in insurance premiums, state Rep. Chip Limehouse is ready to rescind his attempt to delay implementation of new residential building codes.

“If it would cause insurance (prices) to go up, we’ve got to do something about that,” he said.

However, the Charleston Republican questions whether the Federal Emergency Management Agency will raise flood insurance premiums at all and said the state should study the codes further before saddling homebuilders with added construction costs.

FEMA recently notified the state that communities could lose federal flood insurance discounts if it doesn’t adopt the most current residential building codes. Statewide, the additional premium charges would exceed $5 million.

At Limehouse’s request, the state House of Representatives voted to appropriate $100,000 for Clemson University and The Citadel to research the validity of wind and seismic building requirements prescribed by the 2006 International Residential Code, which was set to take effect July 1. To accommodate the study, implementation of that code would be pushed back to June 30, 2009.

If FEMA lowered community ratings that determine flood insurance prices in response, more than 22,000 Charleston County homeowners would pay an additional $1.7 million annually, or $78 apiece on average, according to figures from Carl Simmons, director of the county’s building services department. That’s a 15% increase

Thousands of homeowners in the city of Charleston, Isle of Palms, Kiawah Island, Seabrook Island and others across the state could pay more too.

At this point, FEMA has not reduced those ratings and is not scheduled to review them again until Oct. 1, said spokeswoman Jody Cottrill. On May 1, FEMA did downgrade the ratings of eight communities in North Carolina for similar reasons, she said.

“We’re not even going to get to that point here,” Limehouse said, adding the state could take steps to prevent an increase if that is the case. “That’s a bit of red herring at this point. Nobody knows what’s going to happen. Certainly we could easily remediate that situation.”

The Home Builders Association of South Carolina lobbied for the delay and the study, saying the code would substantially increase the cost of new homes.

“With the housing market down and building starts at a slump, we don’t want to over regulate at this point,” Limehouse said. “We don’t want to jam down the throats of our Realtors and homebuilders when they’re trying to sell these homes and the market is weak.”

Charleston School of Law graduates second class

By Shelia Watson , Contributing Writer

Saturday’s ceremony for 163 members of the Charleston School of Law marked the second graduating class for the school, which opened in August 2004.

“We are truly proud of this second class of students,” said Interim Dean Andy Abrams.  “They’ve been an integral component of success as we have built this law school since it opened four years ago. They have been our partners over the last three years, and we believe they’ll continue to be our partners as we build the school into what it will become.”

The school, located in downtown Charleston, held its graduating ceremony at McAlister Field House on the campus of The Citadel.

The school also awarded honorary doctorate degrees to three legal leaders: Barnwell attorney Terry E. Richardson Jr., a principal at Richardson, Patrick, Westbrook and Brickman LLC; law professor I. Richard Gershon, the first dean of the Charleston School of Law; and ABC News national legal correspondent Jan Crawford Greenburg of Washington, D.C., who delivered the commencement address.

In her speech, Greenburg encouraged graduates to use their new place in the legal profession to fight for what is right and important.

“As lawyers, you will have unique opportunities to fight, to do the right thing,” she said. “You can do this every day in your law practice, in big cases, and in small. You can be advocates for people who need help and counsel to people who need guidance.”

Members of the Class of 2008 had already begun “to do the right thing” while students by giving more than 14,000 hours of pro bono legal work as a public service to local and state organizations. The Charleston School of Law is one of the few in the country that requires students to donate at least 30 hours to public service projects as a graduation requirement.

“Our new graduates will go on to be leaders in law, business, government and society,” Abrams said. “They will be professionals, and part of being a professional means stepping outside of yourself, not doing things that are always in your personal best interest, but rather considering the broader constituency. The pro bono work will help prepare them, once they graduate, to go out into communities and do good work and use their training to benefit the community. Law school has to be more than an academic exercise.”

The school, now comprised of about 600 students, received provisional accreditation from the American Bar Association in December 2006. Full accreditation is expected by 2011.

Read more about the Charleston School of Law in the May 26 edition of The Charleston Regional Business Journal.

Chamber to update economic forecast

By Daily Journal Staff

The Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce will update its 2008 regional economic forecast Wednesday.

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