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The House advanced a bill yesterday that would extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act, an important safeguard for manufacturers and other businesses (Insurance Journal).

The background: “A federal backstop for terrorism risk was first initiated late in 2002 by the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act to respond to insurers’ exclusions of terrorism risks from commercial property/casualty insurance policies following losses from 9/11.”

• The bill, sponsored by Rep. Mike Flood (R-NE) and cosponsored by Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), would extend the terrorism insurance program for seven years. The House Financial Services Committee voted 51-2 on Thursday to advance this bill to the House floor.

NAM in action: The NAM is a member of the Coalition to Insure Against Terrorism, a group of commercial insurance consumers from many sectors, which supports the extension. This week, the coalition sent a letter to committee leaders urging them to advance this legislation.

• “For more than 20 years—and through multiple reauthorizations—Congress has recognized TRIA’s essential role in sustaining a viable terrorism risk insurance market,” the coalition said.
• “This seven-year reauthorization will provide long-term certainty for that marketplace. Acting in 2026 will also prevent the uncertainty and potential market disruptions that have occurred when reauthorization extends into the final year of an existing authorization.”

The NAM says: After the bill was approved, the NAM wrote on social media: “Manufacturers thank [the committee] for passing H.R. 7128, by Rep. Mike Flood, to extend the TRIA program, providing much-needed certainty to businesses by ensuring they can continue to obtain insurance against acts of terrorism.”

Other advances: The Financial Services Committee also advanced legislation that would repeal the Securities and Exchange Commission’s conflict minerals rule, another NAM priority.

• In response, NAM Managing Vice President of Policy Charles Crain wrote, “The SEC’s conflict minerals rule is a costly corporate disclosure mandate that diverts the resources of manufacturers from important investments in R&D, new equipment and jobs. Manufacturers thank the committee and Rep. [Bill] Huizenga [R-MI] for advancing H.R. 7085 to repeal this burdensome rule.”
• The committee also approved H.R. 6967, a bipartisan bill introduced by Reps. Frank Lucas (R-OK) and Brittany Pettersen (D-CO), to establish a Public Company Advisory Committee at the SEC to represent the views of companies.
• “Manufacturers thank Reps. Lucas and Pettersen for their leadership to facilitate capital formation with the creation of a committee at the SEC that will give publicly traded manufacturers a greater voice in rulemaking and SEC priorities,” Crain wrote on social media.