CIAB Chair Sees ?Make Or Break' On Terror Bill
By Mark E. Ruquet
NU Online News Service, Oct. 8, 11:41 a.m. EST, White Sulphur Springs W.Va. ? A legislative proposal by the Senate Democrats should be taken seriously by the White House as a federal terrorism backstop bill approaches its "make or break point," the Council of Insurance Agents and Brokers' outgoing chairman said yesterday.
John L. Van Osdall, CIAB chairman and senior vice president for San Francisco-based USI Insurance Services Corp., made his remarks during the Washington-based association's 2002 Insurance Leadership Forum in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va..
Senate Democrats, as part of any federal legislation to provide terrorism insurance, have proposed including some limits on lawsuits to recover terrorism losses. Differing Senate and House terror backstop legislation is before a Congressional conference committee. The measure approved by the Republican-controlled House includes tough limits on lawsuits.
Mr. Van Osdall said after many months of work and struggle to get a federal terrorism insurance program, the issue is now probably coming to a head.
"At long last, this will probably be the week that the terrorism insurance talks will either collapse or reach resolution," he told executive and guests during the forum's opening general session.
He said Senate Democrats had presented a serious, constructive proposal, which "constitutes an acceptable compromise. We believe that the White House should accept this offer and pave the way for House and Senate negotiators to reconcile their differences in creating a temporary backstop that works for insurance consumers."
Mr. Van Osdall further called on Congress to enact legislation that would "create a regulatory system that is streamlined, efficient and effective. He said the CIAB endorses a "truly optional federal insurance charter."
Mr. Van Osdall, who finishes his one-year term this week, is being succeeded by William R. Wilkerson III, chairman and chief executive officer of Haas & Wilkerson Insurance Inc., headquartered in Shawnee Mission, Kans., for 2003.
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