The Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002: A Summary of Provisions

Summary

After the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, many businesses were not

able

to purchase insurance for risk of property loss due to future terrorist attacks. Congress recognized

the importance of terrorism risk insurance for the health of the U.S. economy, and enacted the

Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 (TRIA, P.L. 107-297 ) to create a temporary program to share

future insured terrorism losses with the property-casualty industry. TRIA requires insurers to offer

terrorism insurance to their commercial policyholders, preserves state regulation of insurance, and

directs the Secretary of the Treasury to administer the program of sharing losses. This report,

originally authored by Carolyn Cobb, provides a summary of the legislation as enacted in 2002. This

legislation was extended and revised in 2005 by P.L. 109-144 . For current information, see CRS Report RS21979 , Terrorism Risk Insurance: An Overview , by Baird Webel. This report

will not

be updated.