The House voted 373-15 today to pass legislation to reauthorize the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act program, which Congress created following the September 2001 terrorist attacks.
The bill (H.R. 7128) would reauthorize the program by seven years and raise the dollar threshold for declaring an act of terrorism a major event from $5 million to $10 million, starting in 2029. The legislation now heads to the Senate.
The American Bankers Association urged lawmakers to extend the program in a letter earlier this year, noting that reinsurers and primary insurers abandoned the terrorism risk insurance marketplace following the 2001 attacks.
“This critical legislation allows commercial building owners to secure affordable and comprehensive insurance coverage and is one of the reasons our economy has avoided a commercial credit availability crisis,” ABA said. “Commercial real estate markets and the lenders that serve them value contractual certainty, and predictable and affordable terrorism coverage enhances that certainty to the benefit of policyholders and lenders alike.”
