Wednesday, President Bush signed into law the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007 after a long year of debate that included a number of hearings, competing legislation, contentious negotiations, and passionate debate regarding both substantive and procedural concerns. IIABA made the extension of a federal backstop a top legislative priority in the 110th Congress.
The legislation, which extends TRIA for seven years with only minor changes to the current program (most notably, the inclusion of domestic terrorism), will ensure that terrorism insurance is available and affordable for the policyholders that our members serve. The Big “I” was at the forefront of these deliberations at every stage throughout the process.
The following is an overview of the law, along with links to our cover memo and COPIES OF NEW ISO TERRORISM ENDORSEMENTS.
Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2007
Duration
This bill extends the TRIA program for seven years through December 31, 2014.
Definitions
The term “act of terrorism” is amended to include domestic acts of terrorism.
Triggering Event
The size of an event needed to trigger TRIA is maintained at $100 million.
Lines of Coverage
The extension bill retains all of the lines covered by the current program.
Make Available
The requirement that insurers make coverage available to policyholders in all lines covered by the program is retained.
Individual Retention
The individual insurer retention level – the amount of terrorism losses that an individual insurance company must pay before federal assistance becomes available – is maintained at 20% of such premiums.
Co-pays
Insurers must pay a share of losses above their individual retentions, known as co-pays. Current co-pay levels of 85% federal/15% insurer are retained.
Industry Retention/Recoupment
The insurance industry as a whole must cover a certain amount of losses before federal assistance is available. This cost may be spread among policyholders by a policy surcharge not to exceed 3% of premiums annually. This industry-wide retention amount of $27.5 billion is retained, but the timeframe for collecting from industry is accelerated.
Study
The Comptroller General is required, no later than one year after enactment, to submit a report to Congress with detailed findings and recommendations appropriate to expand the availability and affordability of insurance for NBCR terrorist events. The Comptroller General also is required, within 180 days of enactment, to determine whether there are specific markets in the United States where there are unique capacity constraints on the amount of terrorism risk insurance available. In addition, the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets is required to continue with an ongoing study and reports to Congress in 2010 and 2013 on the long-term availability and affordability of terrorism insurance, including the availability and affordability of group life insurance.
More information from the Insurance Information Institute:
Links to our cover memo and new ISO endorsements (see "ISO Information" block farther down the page for prior versions of terrorism forms):