News

I am guessing you are aware that the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act was allowed to expire on December 31, 2014 because Congress was unable to approve a bill to reauthorize the federal program before they adjourned for the New Year. The good news is that Congress did pass the legislation last week and the bill was signed by President Obama on Monday, January 12. So, I got to thinking – If I write this newsletter about TRIA, and TRIA was late being reauthorized, does that mean it is OK for the newsletter to be late too?

Well – I doubt very much you mind if this newsletter comes to you on the 15th, 16th or the 19th of the month, but there were a heck of a lot of people in the USA that did mind that Congress was not able to ‘do the right thing’ and get legislation to the president before the sunset clause in the Act kicked in. As a result, construction projects faced an uncertain future, lenders could declare borrowers in default for failing to carry required coverage, and thousands of private insurance policies were canceled.

For over a decade, TRIA has provided economic security to the insurance, real estate, and construction industries because we are able to share the risk of terrorism between the public and private sectors, and thankfully we will now have this continuing until 2020. However, does anyone in Washington ever stop and think about the mess they leave behind when they allow squabbling to override good governance?

Of course anything that is regulated by government has to be signed and dated which means that policies written between January 1 and January 12th will require new forms to be signed by policyholders. To exacerbate the situation, every insurance carrier (the ones we deal with anyways) seems to handle the reauthorization differently, or worse, not at all. We are still waiting for instructions from most of our carriers on how they want us to proceed (Get new forms signed or keep the old forms?). At any rate, you can count on Tuscano to act proactively and try to minimize the paperwork and requests that will inevitably follow. You may find these 2 articles great resources that provide more details about the TRIA reauthorization.

IRMI Free Commentary

NAPSLO Comparison of TRIA Programs

It is nice to hear reports on the news that the US economy is pretty stable even while many other economies are not pulling through the ‘Great Recession’ as well. This makes me optimistic about the insurance industry because when the economy expands, that means there are more opportunities for insurance producers. As you see business coming in your door, don’t shy away from it because it is too big, too odd, or too old! Give one of our very helpful and knowledgeable Tuscano underwriters a call or drop them an email. We’ll be right on it!

Lastly, I just want to send thoughts and prayers to the people of France who suffered such a horrific terrorist attack. I get why many around the globe are moved to join together under the banner of ‘Je suis Charlie’ because this could happen anywhere, to anyone.