Real Estate Roundtable senior vice president Clifton E. RodgersJr. tells GlobeSt.com that it's clear that all attending thesessions understood the urgency of developing a solution. Thetestimony was taken last week by subcommittees on capital markets,insurance and government-sponsored enterprises and oversight andinvestigations of the House committee on financial services."Ithink everyone is in general agreement that something has to be inplace by year end 2007," Rodgers says.

Roundtable's answer to this difficult issue is to create a layerof private capital between primary insurers and the federalgovernment so the marketplace can maintain continuity. "Policyholders can get the coverage they need. At the same time, the roleof the federal government in the terrorism insurance market will beminimized," Rodgers explains.

The federal government's role has been a key issue of debate inCongress. Some congressional leaders hold the view that themarketplace should be able to develop solutions to provide coveragefor terrorism insurance. It was this stance that held up theextension of TRIA until the end of last year.