The U.S. Senate July 17 voted voted 93-4 to pass a bill that would ensure the construction industry is able to secure affordable terrorism insurance for seven more years. The vote on S. 2244, which reauthorizes the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), took place just six months before TRIA was set to expire again. The act has been reauthorized twice since it was created in 2002.

Before the vote, ABC sent a letter supporting S. 2244 pointing out that TRIA acts as a public-private partnership to ensure the stability of the terrorism insurance marketplace and as a safeguard for the construction industry in the event of a tragic attack.

In addition, ABC supports the reauthorization because it will:

• prevent insurance rates from skyrocketing in the event of a terrorist attack;
• encourage private insurers to stay in the market instead of choosing not to offer insurance in the event of an attack; and
• provide much-needed certainty to companies so they won’t have to shelve projects because of unaffordable terrorism insurance.

The reauthorization bill now heads to the U.S. House of Representatives, where it is expected to be voted on this week.