Press Room
 

FROM THE OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

June 18, 2004
JS-1735

The Honorable John W. Snow
Prepared Remarks: Nevada Hotel and Lodging Association
Las Vegas, NV
June 18, 2004

Thank you so much for having me here today. It's great to be in Las Vegas, and great to hear that the Nevada economy is doing so well. If fact, we've just learned that 3,800 jobs were created in this state last month.

Like most of the country, you are creating jobs and reducing unemployment here in Nevada. What a difference a year makes… and what a difference tax cuts can make when it comes to stimulating an economy that was in recession.

Although your unemployment rate is considerably lower than the national average, Nevada, too, has recovered from hard times.

The horror of September 11th was particularly hard on this state, and on your industry.

I hope that the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act of 2002 helped Nevada re-gain its economic strength, and I'm pleased to announce today that the Treasury Department is going to extend the "make available" provision of the act through the third year of the program. This means that insurance companies must continue to make terrorism risk insurance available in all of their property and casualty policies through December 31st, 2005.

We made the decision to extend the "make available" provision because we want to assure the continuation of the key elements of the re-insurance program. The key to success of this program is that people at high levels of risk – like hotel owners – can obtain terrorism insurance at an affordable cost.

I believe that the terrorism re-insurance program was an important confidence-builder as we recovered from recession. The Treasury Department is currently evaluating the success of the program, and we want to make sure it continues to contain the same elements – such as the requirement to offer insurance – throughout the life of the program. That way, our final analysis of its efficacy will be based on consistent policy throughout the three-year period of the program.

When we put the continuation of "make available" out for public comment, the response was overwhelming. And it was clear from the information that we received that yes, "make available" should be extended.

I hope this is good news for you and your industry; I'm delighted to deliver it. Thank you so much for having me here today… I'd be happy to take your questions now.