Bill Nelson: “My amendment sets a process in place. We have the Secretary of the Treasury. Now why would we go to the Secretary of the…”

“My amendment sets a process in place. We have the Secretary of the Treasury. Now why would we go to the Secretary of the Treasury? Because the insurance commissioners of the 50 States determine if rates are actuarially sound on the basis of an experience or on the basis of data coming from an experience, and the fact is that the insurance commissioners of the 50 States do not have that data and experience. So in the Nelson amendment what we do is put into place a process by which actuarially sound judgments can be made on whether or not the rate hike is just right or whether the rate hike is too high or whether the rate hike is not high enough. You mean it could not be high enough? In fact, that is something we ought to know. We ought to know what is the appropriate hike to cover the insurance risk that is being assumed by the insurance company since most of the terrorism risk is being assumed by the Federal Government. For example, under the Nelson amendment, the Secretary of the Treasury shall promulgate regulations establishing parameters for insurance rates for terrorism risk.”