BestWeek: Will Katrina Break the Levee Holding Back TRIA's Renewal?

OLDWICK, N.J. -- Coming out of a five-week recess, members of Congress probably thought they had a pretty good handle on the biggest issues they were likely to face when they returned to work the week of Sept. 5--repeal of the estate tax, budget cuts and confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee John Roberts.

Mother Nature, it seems, had other plans.

Having already ravaged the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Katrina almost undoubtedly will now wreak havoc on Capitol Hill, as no member of Congress will want to be seen as failing to respond to such a tragedy, according to an exclusive report in the Sept. 5 issue of BestWeek.

For the insurance industry, this could mean increased attention to federal proposals dealing with risk management, such as calls to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act beyond its Dec. 31 expiration. Insurers already had planned to make TRIA their No. 1 priority for the balance of the legislative year, pushing other long-term projects such as asbestos reform and the State Modernization and Regulatory Transparency Act so far toward the back burner they're now no longer even on the stove.

This is one of 10 pages of in-depth coverage on Hurricane Katrina, which has caused devastating losses in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

Other Katrina coverage includes:

--Why Katrina will take a bigger bite of the secondary market than the storms that ravaged Florida in the past, at least when it comes to commercial coverage.

--Why a Florida congresswoman is reviving her call for creation of a national reinsurance facility to cover extreme natural disasters.

--Why the cancellation of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners' Fall National Meeting in New Orleans means new forums will need to be found.

--Why disputes and lawsuits are certain to erupt over whether policyholders whose homes were destroyed by Katrina should be paid the full face value of their homeowners policies when hurricane damage was caused by flooding.

--How Louisiana Insurance Commissioner J. Robert Wooley was impacted personally by Katrina's devastation.

--Why the Gulf state high-risk pools may assess insurers.

BestWeek is published by A.M. Best Co. for insurance professionals, including home office executives, agents and brokers.

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A.M. Best Co., established in 1899, is the world's oldest and most authoritative insurance rating and information source. For more information, visit A.M. Best's Web site at www.ambest.com.