This week, PIA National submitted testimony for a joint hearing in the House Financial Services Committee subcommittees on Housing, Community Development and Insurance and National Security, International Development, and Monetary Policy on the reauthorization of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program (TRIP). This hearing on the reauthorization of TRIP follows one held in the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee in June.

In the testimony, PIA National noted our support for legislation (H.R. 4634) introduced by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), chairwoman of the Financial Services Committee, to reauthorize TRIP for an additional 10 years without making major changes to the program. The program, originally created in 2002, is currently set to expire at the end of 2020. PIA National has supported the TRIP since its inception and will continue to argue for a long-term re-authorization with minimal changes.

Following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the property/casualty sector of the insurance industry determined that it could not sustain an additional terrorist attack without serious financial consequences on the nation’s economy. As a result, in 2002, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) was written and signed into law, creating the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program (TRIP). The program has since been reauthorized in 2005, 2007, and, most recently, in 2015. The 2015 re-authorization included several  changes to the program, such as gradually increasing the trigger for federal involvement in handling claims for a terrorist attack from $100 million to $200 million. 

PIA National supports a long-term, straightforward extension of the TRIP well before its expiration to provide stability to and reduce uncertainty among policyholders and markets.