Terrorism insuranceIndustry, Democrats reject GOP-sponsored TRIA-extension draft
House democrats and members of Property Casualty Insurers, a leading insurance trade group, have rejected a Republican-sponsored draft proposal which would alter some measures of the current Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA). The Property Casualty Insurers did not mince words, calling the GOP plan “unworkable for the marketplace.” The proposal would raise the amount of damage caused by a terrorist attack from the current $100 million to $500 million before government coverage is triggered (the higher threshold would apply to attacks which do not involve nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological means).
House democrats and members of Property Casualty Insurers, a leading insurance trade group, have rejected a Republican-sponsored draft proposal which would alter some measures of the current Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA).
On Tuesday, the Property Casualty Insurers did not mince words, calling the GOP plan “unworkable for the marketplace.”
TRIA will expire at the end of the year unless Congress renews it.
Last week, House Financial Services Committee chairman, Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) circulated a draft to Republican committee members calling legislators to support the Terrorism Risk Insurance Modernization Act of 2014 (TRIM). The New York Daily News reports that the GOP draft would renew TRIA, but only for three years rather than five years advocated by the insurance industry, and would raise the amount of damage caused by a terrorist attack from the current $100 million to $500 million before government coverage is triggered (the higher threshold would apply to attacks which do not involve nuclear, biological, chemical, or radiological means).
“It is about to get ugly,” was the way a key industry lobbyist summed up the draft of the TRIM proposal.
Property owners, insurers, and financial services firms want the program renewed for five years on current terms. Insurance agents and brokers say that uncertainty about the reauthorization of the bill is already driving up premiums. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio met with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) and members of the New York delegation on Tuesday to discuss renewing TRIA.
Representative Carolyn Maloney (D-New York), called Hensarling’s proposal, “the equivalent of doing nothing at all.” “The economic consequences of these proposed changes to TRIA for metropolitan areas like New York, which continue to be at risk of another attack, would be disastrous,” Maloney said. As the second-most senior Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, Maloney wants to work with Hensarling on the issue, and she believes legislators on both side of the aisle will be flexible in drafting a final, passable bill.
Representative Steve Israel (D-New York), who attended Tuesday’s meeting with de Blasio and Pelosi, said Hensarling has become an obstacle to renewing the bill. “We are up against a Texan who is Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee who is opposed,” to the program, Israel told the Daily News.
If the House fails to pass a bill to renew TRIA, the Senate may pass its own bill, forcing the House to support a straight reauthorization of the current TRIA program. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-New York) is focused on advancing a TRIA extension negotiated by a bipartisan group of senators, rather than a House measure. “We’re gonna stick with our bill,” Schumer said.
