Big ‘I’ Praises Approval of Terrorism Insurance Backstop Bill by Financial Services Committee

The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”) is hailing House Financial Services Committee passage of H.R. 4634, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Backstop Extension Act.

The Association also called on the Senate to move forward on its own bipartisan legislation, S. 2764, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Extension Act, before Congress adjourns.

The Big “I” has been joined by many of its industry partners in strongly supporting extension of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA). H.R. 4634, introduced by Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), would extend TRIA for two years through the end of 2007, and require terrorism insurance coverage to be made available.

The existing TRIA legislation expires Dec. 31, 2005 , but action is needed as soon as possible to avoid gaps in coverage in policies written after Dec. 31, 2004 .

The Association expressed gratitude to the Financial Services Committee’s chairman, Rep. Mike Oxley (R-Ohio), and the entire committee for moving the legislation.

“We are extremely pleased that the House Financial Services Committee has taken action on this important bill, which is vital to the insurance industry’s ability to cover catastrophic losses related to terrorism and also to preserving confidence in the market,” said Robert Rusbuldt, Big “I” CEO. “We thank Chairman Oxley and the whole committee for approving this critical bill, and we call on the full House to pass it as quickly as possible.”

“Passage of this bill is crucial to providing certainty in the insurance marketplace,” said Charles Symington Jr., Big “I” senior vice president of federal government affairs. “Today’s committee markup was an important step in moving the bill forward to the full House. Passing this legislation is a must for many of the business clients of independent agents and brokers.”

“This is very comprehensive legislation,” added Symington. “The Big ‘I’ supports this legislation strongly and will continue to work with its industry partners and commercial policyholders to push for its speedy enactment.”

Symington and the Big “I” are also strongly urging the Senate to move on S. 2764, and they praised Sens. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and Bob Bennett (R-Utah) for working together to introduce the bipartisan legislation.