WASHINGTON–The U.S. Treasury is expected to publish in Thursday's Federal Register its final rule for implementing the changes made in last year's 11th-hour extension of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, and will seek comment.
Passed late last year by a reluctant Congress and signed into law by President George W. Bush just days before the TRIA program's original expiration date of Dec. 31, 2005, the extension was designed to decrease the potential for government involvement in paying claims in the aftermath of a major terrorist attack.
The changes drastically increase the loss threshold insurers would have to reach before seeking government help, increases insurer deductibles, and reduces the number of lines included under the program.
The extended program was based largely on the Senate version of the extension legislation, rather than the House version that would have created a "silo" system in which individual lines would have had differing deductibles.
Although the insurance industry preferred the House version, it was blasted by critics as a gift to insurers and did not have the support of many conservative Republicans, who were fearful that such a proposal opened the door for a permanent government insurance bureaucracy.
The Treasury will be soliciting comments on the interim final implementation rule for the changes for 30 days after publication in the Federal Register.
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