An industry expert is calling for legislators to pass a bill that would mandate that insurance companies pay for business losses incurred due to a pandemic such as the current COVID-19 outbreak.

Zach Finn — a professor and director of the Davey Risk Management and Insurance Program at Butler University in Indiana — has helped craft, outline, and lobby for a Pandemic Risk Insurance Act (PRIA) together with a group of colleagues.

PRIA is similar to the Terrorism Risk and Insurance Act (TRIA) that was written into law after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

“Every business in America doesn’t understand where they’re going to get their money from,” Finn told Inside Indiana Business.

The expert is now urging lawmakers to consider PRIA, since it acts as a type of reinsurance for commercial P&C policies.