Industry Asks House To Extend TRIA
Wednesday, April 28th, 2004 Catastrophe Legislation & RegulationCongress should act this year to extend the national terrorism insurance backstop beyond Dec. 31, 2005, because the private market remains unable to withstand potentially catastrophic losses resulting from terrorist attacks, a united insurance industry told two U.S.House subcommittees on Wednesday. Failure to extend the program in 2004 will confuse policyholders and create uncertainty for insurers, industry lobbyists argued. This is because policies written or renewed after Jan. 1, 2005, would run for at least a portion of the coverage term without the protections of the federal backstop. The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA) created a temporary public-private risk sharing mechanism that has enabled the commercial insurance marketplace to function even though the threat of further catastrophic terrorism remains.
