February 4, 2002—At the recent Winter Business Meeting, BOMAs Board of Govenors adopted a position on insurance coverage for acts of terrorism and war. BOMA reports that while insurers have publicly stated that they will be able to honor claims resulting from the events of September 11, executives of the reinsurance and insurance industries testified before Congress last Fall that new policies are likely to exclude both acts of terrorism and acts of war. Additionally, they stated that reinsurance for terrorism was unavailable in the marketplace at that time.
Many owners of commercial properties have been advised that their policies may not be renewed or that their new policies will exclude terror/war risks.
The policy that was approved first by the BOMAs Government Affairs Committee, then by the Board of Governors, reads as follows:
The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International urges the state and federal government to play a role in ensuring that commercial property owners can continue to obtain coverage for damage from acts of terrorism, at reasonable and affordable rates. Further, given the increasing possibility that future events could convert the existing situation to a state of war, the government also should play a role, at least in a standby capacity, for coverage of acts of war.
For more information, contact BOMA.
