The Department of Insurance must determine the South Carolina average market rate for private sector liability insurance for communications operations. To have government-owned and nongovernment-owned communications service providers in the same competitive position, to the extent possible, the rate paid for liability insurance for government-owned communications operations must be equal to or greater than the average market rate for private sector liability insurance in South Carolina as determined by the Department of Insurance. To the extent that any government-owned communications service provider pays less than the average market rate for this insurance established by the Department of Insurance, the difference must be remitted by the government-owned communications service provider to the general fund of the government owning that communications service provider. However, nothing in this section may be construed to mean a government-owned communications provider is not covered by the South Carolina Tort Claims Act.