Terrorism Risk Insurance Act Hijacked

When insurers discontinued writing terrorism insurance following the events of September 11, 2001, commercial property values declined and construction slowed, fearful of the potential unavailability of terrorism risk insurance and the possible effects.
The Senate approved a Bill to renew TRIA for 7 years, which would have restored confidence in the market by assuring investors that terrorism insurance will be available and affordable.
After much wrangling and last-minute nail biting, last week the House of Representatives delivered a bill extending the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act through 2020, while raising the trigger to $200 million.
The effort was all for naught: Last night, the measure died in the Senate after Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) blocked the legislative body from holding a final vote. Coburn had been opposed to a provisions requiring insurance agents to register into a federal nonprofit clearinghouse. Coburn wanted states to be able to opt-out of the process.
TRIA had not been included in the omnibus spending bill that both the House of Representatives and the Senate passed and that President Obama is set to sign. Democrats had opposed revisions the House made to the bill that loosened certain Dodd-Frank provisions.
New York Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has said he hopes the measure be brought to the floor next year.
One rumor making the rounds was that the National Football League would cancel next year’s Super Bowl if the measure didn’t pass. On Tuesday night the NFL debunked that rumor, stating the game would continue no matter what happened with TRIA.
Still, there is no shortage of disgust over the failure to pass TRIA this year.
 

“A dysfunctional Washington caused the failure of TRIA last night,” Real Estate Roundtable CEO Jeff DeBoer told GlobeSt.com. “We are deeply disappointed. This law is too important to the economy and jobs to have derailed by unrelated issues the way it was. We plan to quickly regroup and develop a plan with the new Congress on how to go forward.”

 

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