Tuesday, August 13, 2002

Public Sector Terrorism Coverage Headline: Cuts to Utah's Public Employees Health Program have left emergency personnel wondering what would happen to their families if they were killed in a terrorist attack. Personal injury and death are only part of the overall terrorism-related insurance problem.  Terrorism coverage has increased dramatically since 9-11.  According to our State Risk Manager, Terrorism insurance has the largest impact on rate increases that I have ever seen. Terrorism exclusions have been introduced into nearly every type of policy, and it has had a tremendous impact on workers compensation insurance rates. In the past, insurance companies have never factored into their calculations of rates and reserves the possibility of a large number of losses of employees in a single company. Some state buildings could be a greater terrorism target than other state buildings. The definition of terrorism for insurance purposes is a destructive act committed for a political or religious purposes. Such insurance is very expensive.  Terrorism coverage is a policy decision that needs to be addressed. Current property insurance rates used in the State do not include any terrorism coverage. There is a FEMA program that might pay up to 75% of uninsured losses, but currently it doesn’t cover terrorism. More coverage in the Daily Herald 11:20:41 AM

Water in the Drought The Utah legislature has created a new task force to look at policy issues related to water management.  The task force met yesterday.  It also includes key members from the executive branch.  With the drastic cuts to the State budget that have occured over the past year, Governor Leavitt would like to reduce subsidies from the State's general fund to water resource development and have more of it payed through user fees.  Utah has some of the lowest water rates in the country and one of the highest consumption rates.  It is also the second driest state in the nation.  The August agenda for the Utah Water Resources Board gives you an idea of the scope and issues they are dealing with. We used to have some really good stuff on the web related to water sources where you could interactively look at a given source, the tests associated with it, maps, etc.  Much of that is no longer publicly available due to concerns related to terrorism and 9-11. A new report gives Utah's perspective on uses of the Colorado River  Utah Division of Water Resources  Utah's Water Conservation Page Utah Division of Drinking Water 8:06:12 AM

© Copyright 2002 David Fletcher.