Senate Amends and Passes S 2244 – TRI Reauthorization

On Thursday the Senate took up S 2444, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2014. Three amendments were considered on the floor of the Senate. Two were passed and one failed. The bill then passed by a solid bipartisan vote of 93 to 4.

Failed Amendment

The vote on the Coburn (R,OK) Amendment (SA 3549, CREC S4427) was actually a procedural vote that would have waived the Senate budgetary discipline rules to allow the Secretary of the Treasury to extend the insurance recoupment deadline in the event that the amount exceeded $1 billion in any given calendar year.

That procedural vote failed by a largely partisan vote of 48 to 49; three Democrats voted in the affirmative with the Republicans.

Lacking that waiver a vote on the actual amendment could not be held.

Adopted Amendments

The amendment by Senator Flake (R,AZ) (SA 3551, CREC S 4427-28) would establish a Federal Advisory Committee on Risk Sharing Mechanisms. The Committee would “provide advice, recommendations, and encouragement with respect to the creation and development of the nongovernmental risk-sharing mechanisms” {§8(b)(2)}.

The amendment passed on a vote of 97 to 0.

The final amendment did not, strictly speaking, actually deal with terrorism insurance. Sen. Tester (D,MT) proposed SA 3552 (CREC S 4428-32). It is actually an amendment of 15 USC 6751 et seq, revising the requirements for the National Association of Registered Agents and Brokers. This amendment is essentially the bill that Sen. Tester introduced earlier in the session, S 534. While that bill had been voted favorably reported in Committee, it was likely that the bill never would have made it to a floor vote on its own.

The amendment passed on a voice vote.

Moving Forward

Last week there had been a possibility that one of the House introduced bills (HR 4871 was specifically mentioned on the Majority Leader’s web site) would have been voted on. It never happened and there is no mention of that bill, or S 2244, on the schedule for this week. With only one more week before the extended summer recess, it will be interesting to see if the House takes up this bill or passes HR 4871 and then substitutes the language for that in S 2244. Or they could just amend S 2244 or adopt it as is.

In any case, if any changes are made before the summer recess, the bill would be considered by a conference committee and the bill would probably make it through (even during an electioneering season) before the election recess.

Congressional Hearings – Week of 6-13-14

The summer congressional recess is fast approaching and then the electioneering season begins in earnest when they get back to Washington in September. In these last weeks before the recess there are lots of hearing scheduled but only two (both in the Senate this week) will likely be of specific interest to readers of this blog; both dealing with the FY 2015 DOD spending bill.

FY 2015 DOD Appropriations

There will be two hearings this week on the Senate version of the FY 2015 DOD spending bill. Tuesday the Defense Subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee will markup the bill and then Thursday the full committee will take their pass at it.

For the last couple of years I have been watching the DOD spending bill for cybersecurity measures. I did not see much in the House bill (HR 4870) this year and I am beginning to think that the spending folks have passed cybersecurity by. We will see how the topic fares in this bill.

House Floor

According to the House Majority Leader’s web site, there is a chance that HR  4871, a TRIA reauthorization bill, will come to the floor of the House on Thursday. That is too late for consideration under suspension of the rules, so we can probably expect to see a Rules Committee hearing on Wednesday if this is going to happen.

There is a chance that a competing Senate bill , S 2244 could also be considered this week. I suspect that both bills will pass in their respective house. Whichever one get’s passed first will be ignored by the other house until just after final passage when the bill number will be changed to the counterpart legislation. That will send the whole thing to Conference. That would probably mean a TRIA bill going to the President in September.

HR 4871 Introduced – TRIA Reauthorization

As I reported earlier Rep. Neugebauer (R,TX) introduced HR 4871, the TRIA Reform Act of 2014. This is one of five (HR 508, HR 1945, HR 2146, and S 2244) bills under consideration that would extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act that is due to expire this year. This bill would extend the operation of that Act through 2019 while making a number of changes to the program.

One major change would be to annually increase the trigger amount that would cause the US Treasury to pay a portion of the claims for a designated terrorist attack, from the current $100 million to $500 million in 2019.

The bill would also establish a new category of terrorist attacks. Section 102 of the TRIA authorizing language (15 USC 6701 Note) would be amended to require the Secretary of the Treasury to determine whether or not a designated terrorist attack would be an ‘act of NBCR [Nuclear, Biological, Chemical or Radiological] terrorism’ {§102(1)(D)}.

The term ‘NBCR terrorism’ is explained in the added §102(9) as any covered act of terrorism covered under the TRIA that “to the extent that the insured losses involve, regardless of any other cause or event that contributes concurrently or in any sequence to such insurance loss” due to:

• The dispersal or application of radioactive material, pathogenic or poisonous biological or chemical material;

• The use of a nuclear weapon or device that involves or produces a nuclear reaction, nuclear radiation, or radioactive contamination” or

• The release of radioactive material, pathogenic or poisonous biological or chemical material where “it appears that one purpose of the act of terrorism was to release such material”.

The only consequence of the declaration of an act of NBCR terrorism would be to lower the amount that triggers US participation in the payment of claims to $100 million.

As I noted in the earlier blog I think that this bill has the best chances of moving forward in the House since Neugebauer is the Chair of the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee.

The Senate bill may be considered first and then the House leadership would have to decide whether or not they would consider their own bill or tack one of the House bills (presumably this one) onto the Senate bill as substitute language. In either case I would not be surprised to see the NBCR terrorism portion of this bill in any bill that goes to the President.

Bills Introduced – 06-17-14

Both the Senate and House are in Washington this week and 27 bills were introduced yesterday. Two of those bills may be of specific interest to readers of this blog:

HR 4871 Latest Title: To reauthorize the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Rep Neugebauer, Randy (R,TX)

S 2478 Latest Title: A bill to authorize the Secretary of Transportation to partner with industry to strengthen the safety culture and safety practices of short line and regional freight railroads. Sponsor: Sen Collins, Susan M. (R,ME)

This now makes 5 bills in the current session that address the reauthorization of the TRIA. I haven’t seen this bill yet, but I suspect that this is the one that will get play in the House since Neugebauer is the Chair of the Housing and Insurance Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee.

The Collins bill may be of interest if it contains provisions specific to chemical transportation safety.