Legislators Call for Terrorism Insurance Renewal

WASHINGTON, DC-Rep. Pete Sessions has introduced legislation that would extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act two years beyond its scheduled December 31, 2005 expiration date. TRIA was enacted in November 2002 to put in place a federal backstop measure that obliges the government to cover payouts beyond $100 billion of insurers’ liability.

Fellow US House of Representatives colleagues Richard Baker, Eric Cantor, Sue Kelly and Deborah Pryce joined Sessions in yesterday’s call for an extension as co-sponsors of HR 4634. “The action taken by these representatives will help to sustain America’s economic recovery over the coming years,” says Gail Davis Cardwell, the Mortgage Bankers Association’s senior vice president, commercial/multifamily. The new bill comes just days after the US Department of the Treasury extended the “make available” provision of TRIA, the segment of TRIA that requires insurance companies to make terrorism insurance available on the same terms as property and casualty insurance.