South Carolina S 951: Safe Homes Act

Bill Text

2025-2026 Bill 951 Text of Previous Version (Feb. 24, 2026) - South Carolina Legislature Online 

South Carolina General Assembly
126th Session, 2025-2026

Bill 951

Indicates Matter Stricken
Indicates New Matter

(Text matches printed bills. Document has been reformatted to meet World Wide Web specifications.)

A bill

TO AMEND THE SOUTH CAROLINA CODE OF LAWS BY AMENDING 
SECTION 38-75-485, RELATING TO the SOUTH CAROLINA HURRICANE DAMAGE MITIGATION 
PROGRAM, SO AS TO PROVIDE THE PROGRAM MUST BE KNOWN AS THE "SC SAFE HOME 
PROGRAM," TO ESTABLISH THE PURPOSE OF THE PROGRAM, TO REVISE GRANT ELIGIBILITY 
AND AWARD AMOUNTS, TO AUTHORIZE ANNUAL BULLETIN-BASED ALLOCATIONS, TO ESTABLISH 
NEEDS-BASED PRIORITIZATION OF GRANTS, TO CLARIFY USE AND DISTRIBUTION OF TAX 
REVENUES, AND TO MAKE CONFORMING AND TECHNICAL CHANGES.

Be it enacted by the 
General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:

SECTION 1. Section 38-75-485 of the S.C. Code is amended to read:

 Section 
38-75-485. (A) There is established 
within the Department of Insurance, the South Carolina Hurricane Damage 
Mitigation Program to aid eligible homeowners in 
retrofitting insurable property to reduce losses due to hurricane, tornado, or 
other catastrophic windstorm events. This program shall be known as the "SC 
Safe Home Program." The advisory committee, 
established pursuant to Section 38-75-470, shall provide advice and assistance 
to the program administrator with regard to his administration of the program.

 (B) 
This section does not create an entitlement for property owners or obligate the 
State in any way to fund the inspection or retrofitting of residential property 
in this State. Implementation of this program is subject to the availability of funds through annual legislative 
appropriations, receipt of federal grants or funds, or 
funding from other sources.

 (C) 
The program shall develop and implement a comprehensive and coordinated 
approach for hurricane damage mitigation that includes the following:

 (1) 
The program may award matching or nonmatching grants based upon the 
availability of funds. The program administrator also shall apply for 
financial grants to be used to assist single-family, site-built or manufactured 
or modular, owner-occupied, residential property owners to retrofit their 
primary legal residence to make them less vulnerable to hurricane damage.

 (a) 
To be eligible for a matching grant, a residential property must:

 (i) be the applicant's primary legal 
residence;

 (ii) be actually owned and occupied 
by the applicant;

 (iii) be the owner's legal residence 
as described in Section 12-43-220(c);

 (iv) be a single-family, site-built, 
manufactured, or modular, owner-occupied residential property;

 (v) be a residential property covered 
by a current homeowners or dwelling insurance policy that:

 (A) is issued by an insurer licensed 
in this State or a surplus lines insurer, where the policy is lawfully placed 
by a broker authorized to do business in this State; and

 (B) provides insurance coverage of the 
residential property equal to or greater than the fair market value of the 
residential property as defined in Section 12-37-3135(a)(2) and reflected in 
the county records;

 (vi) have undergone an acceptable 
wind certification and hurricane mitigation inspection in accordance with 
program requirements.

 (b) 
All matching grants must be matched on a dollar-for-dollar basis up to the 
maximum allowed depending on the type of retrofit. Grants will be awarded 
based on the following requirements:

 (i) a Resilient Mitigation Award will 
be awarded for roof retrofits meeting SC Safe Homes Retrofit Guidelines and Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety 
Fortified Roof Retrofit Guidelines for a residential property and may not 
exceed seven thousand five hundred dollarsthe dollar amount outlined in the annual allocation bulletin 
published by the Department of Insurance for nonmatching grant awards or 
six thousand dollars for matching grants; and

 (ii) a Sustainable Mitigation Award 
will be awarded for roof retrofits meeting SC Safe Home 
Retrofit Guidelines only or for Window Replacement and Opening 
Protection Retrofits meeting SC Safe Home Opening Protection Guidelines for 
residential property and mayshall 
not exceed five thousand dollars for nonmatching grants 
awards or four thousand dollarsthe dollar amount 
outlined in the annual allocation bulletin published by the Department of 
Insurance for matching grants. For Hurricane 
Shuttering and Protective Barrier Systems only meetingmust meet SC Safe Home Opening Protection Guidelines, grants may not exceed three thousand dollars and must not exceed the dollar amount outlined in the annual 
allocation bulletin published by the Department of Insurance for both 
matching and nonmatching grants.

 (c) 
The program must create a process in which mitigation contractors agree to 
participate and seek reimbursement from the State and homeow