{"id":328,"date":"2020-04-16T17:31:20","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T21:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/insurancelaw\/?p=328"},"modified":"2020-04-16T17:31:36","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T21:31:36","slug":"congress-proposes-bill-for-coronavirus-business-interruption-insurance-coverage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/insurancelaw\/2020\/04\/16\/congress-proposes-bill-for-coronavirus-business-interruption-insurance-coverage\/","title":{"rendered":"Congress Proposes Bill for Coronavirus Business Interruption Insurance Coverage"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we wrote earlier this week, legislators continue their efforts to address the enormous cost of business continuity losses<\/a>. Most recently, Representative Mike Thompson of California, introduced H.R.6494<\/a>, labeled the \u201cBusiness Interruption Insurance Coverage Act of 2020\u201d. <\/p>\n

The draft Act is broad in scope. Section 1 of the draft Act requires \u201ceach insurer that offers or makes available business interruption insurance coverage\u201d to \u201cmake available, in all of its policies providing [such coverage], coverage for losses resulting from\u201d \u201cany viral pandemic\u201d; \u201cany forced closure of business, or mandatory evacuation, by law or order of any government\u201d; or \u201cany power shut-off conducted for public safety purposes\u201d. The draft Act does not specifically reference or tie in such losses to coronavirus or COVID-19 response efforts.<\/p>\n

In addition to compelling coverage, Section 2 of the draft Act renders \u201cvoid\u201d existing exclusions for losses resulting from the specific perils identified in Section 1 of the draft Act (i.e., losses resulting from \u201cany viral pandemic\u201d). Section 2 \u201cpreempts\u201d any State approval of such exclusions.<\/p>\n

Section 2 of the draft Act provides for \u201creinstatement\u201d of exclusions otherwise rendered \u201cvoid,\u201d under two circumstances. First, the insured may, in writing, affirmatively authorize its insurer to \u201creinstate\u201d the exclusions. Second, after providing notice that the insurer intends to \u201creinstate\u201d the exclusions, or increase the premium for coverage afforded consistent with Section 1 of the draft Act (i.e., coverage for coronavirus-related damages) and the insured fails to pay such increased premium, the insurer may \u201creinstate\u201d the exclusions. In addition to the increased premium amount, the notice provided must include an explanation of \u201cthe rights of the insureds with respect to such coverage\u201d.<\/p>\n

As of the date of this article, the draft Act had been referred to the House Committee on Financial Services. We continue to monitor these developing efforts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we wrote earlier this week, legislators continue their efforts to address the enormous cost of business continuity losses. Most recently, Representative Mike Thompson of California, introduced H.R.6494, labeled the \u201cBusiness Interruption Insurance Coverage Act of 2020\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":243,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[391,390,18,382,381,308],"ppma_author":[431],"class_list":["post-328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-business-continuity-losses","tag-business-interruption-insurance","tag-california","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-daniel-heidtke"],"authors":[{"term_id":431,"user_id":243,"is_guest":0,"slug":"dbheidtke","display_name":"Daniel B. Heidtke","avatar_url":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/insurancelaw\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/12\/2024\/10\/Danny-Heidtke-LinkedIn-6249-e1729870422263-100x100.jpg","0":null,"1":"","2":"","3":"","4":"","5":"","6":"","7":"","8":""}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/insurancelaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/insurancelaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/insurancelaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/insurancelaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/insurancelaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/insurancelaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/insurancelaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/insurancelaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/insurancelaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.duanemorris.com\/insurancelaw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}