BIG “I” APPLAUDS SENATE COMMITTEE’S TERROR INSURANCE HEARING
Association reiterates support for federal role to ensure coverage for catastrophic attacks
WASHINGTON, D.C., July 14, 2005—The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (Big “I”) today praised the Senate Banking Committee for holding a hearing on the future of a federal terrorism insurance backstop.
The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) is set to expire Dec. 31, and Congress is now determining how or whether to extend or replace it in the wake of a Treasury Department report handed down June 30th. The House Financial Services Committee held a similar hearing yesterday.
“We applaud the Senate Banking Committee for moving forward so expeditiously on the question of terrorism insurance and the appropriate role the federal government should play,” says Charles E. Symington Jr., Big “I” senior vice president of government affairs and federal relations. “We are very pleased that both the appropriate committees in the Senate and the House are taking this issue up quickly and with obvious seriousness. The work of Chairman Shelby, Chairman Oxley and their colleagues in both committees is praiseworthy.”
The Big “I” has consistently supported the continuation of the current terrorism insurance backstop or a modified one, and it has noted in testimony before Congress that action is needed as soon as possible, since businesses and insurers are starting to make decisions that impact operations beyond the expiration of TRIA.
The Big “I” also notes that the availability and affordability of terrorism insurance is a business customer problem throughout the nation. In fact, take-up rates under TRIA have continued to grow across the country, and IIABA members have seen terrorism coverage purchased by a variety of interests, from small towns in Mississippi to small and large businesses in New York City. IIABA does not want its business customers to be in a position of having insurers exclude terrorism coverage, or having insurers stop writing certain commercial coverage altogether in some states that do not allow exclusions for terrorism coverage. IIABA’s focus is on its customers, and it knows that many of its business customers need this coverage.
“The Big ‘I’ and our 300,000 insurance agents and brokers hope that both the House and the Senate can move forward quickly on a program that will serve consumers well and protect our economic security,” says Brendan Reilly, Big “I” director of federal government affairs. “The fact that the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee both have moved forward so quickly is a very encouraging sign, and we commend the legislators on both committees for their work.”
Founded in 1896, IIABA (the Big “I”) is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing a network of more than 300,000 agents, brokers and their employees nationally. Its members are businesses that offer customers a choice of policies from a variety of insurance companies. Independent agents and brokers offer all lines of insurance—property, casualty, life, and health—as well as employee benefit plans and retirement products. Web address: www.independentagent.com.
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