With only five days left before the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act was set to expire on Dec. 31, 2007, President Bush signed into law legislation that reauthorizes the federal backstop for seven years.

The final bill that was signed mirrored the far less expansive extension of the backstop that was favored by the Senate and the Bush Administration. It rejected many of the provisions that had been included in a previous House-passed version, which would have extended the program for 15 years and significantly expanded coverage.

The final TRIA extension that was signed by the President (HR 2761) eliminates the distinction between foreign and domestic terrorism; and requires the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) to conduct two studies: One study to address the issue of providing terrorist insurance coverage for nuclear, biological, chemical or radiological (NBCR) events and how best to expand such coverage; and the other — to be completed in six months — to examine the issue of high-risk areas in the United States that are faced with unique capacity constraints.

What It Means to Agents:  PIA had been hopeful that some aspects of the House bill would have survived into the final legislation. But resistance from the Administration carried the day, something we got a preview of at the 2007 PIA Federal Legislative Summit. During a meeting with senior Administration officials responsible for TRIA at the White House, PIA’s leadership was told that the most President Bush would accept was a continuation of the program without expansion. In fact, officials told us the Administration still wanted to see TRIA phased out. So, the seven-year extension represents a significant victory.

January 4, 2008