On 20 December 2001 both houses of Congress passed HR 2884, the federal tax relief package for victims of the September 11 tragedies. Included in that bill was a "landmark protection for Americans with disabilities who receive structured settlement payments," according to Andrew J. Larsen, president of The National Structured Settlements Trade Association and executive vice president of GE Financial.
These new federal protections for all recipients of structured settlement payments are drawn from legislation championed by Reps. E. Clay Shaw, Jr. (R-FL) and Pete Stark (D-CA) in the House and by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT), the original author of the structured settlement tax rules, and ranking Finance Committee Republican Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) in the Senate.
