The Texas Department Insurance (“TDI”) Commissioner Cassie Brown issued an order decreasing the surplus lines stamping fee from .075% to .04% of gross premium resulting from surplus lines insurance contracts. The decrease will apply to new or renewal surplus lines policies with an effective date on or after January 1, 2024.

On June 23, 2023, the Connecticut Insurance Department (the “Department”) issued a press release announcing Governor Ted Lamont signed Public Act No. 23-15, An Act Concerning Captive Insurance Companies, (the “Act”) into law.  Effective October 1, 2023, the Act makes various changes to Connecticut’s captive insurance laws.  In particular, the Act now permits captive insurance companies to “accept or transfer risk by means of a parametric contract,” which will allow businesses to more easily cover unique risks, according to the Department. 

The 88th Regular Session (2023) of the Texas Legislature voted to enact Senate Bill 833 (“SB 833”), ‎‎which aims to prohibit ‎insurers operating in Texas from using environmental, social, or governance ‎‎‎(“ESG”) models, ‎scores, factors, or standards to charge different rates to businesses or risks in the ‎‎same class ‎facing essentially the same hazards.‎ Because of the divergent approach states have ‎taken regarding ESG issues, SB 833 may present unique challenges for insurance companies ‎operating across ‎multiple jurisdictions. To navigate this complex landscape, insurance companies ‎need to develop ‎flexible strategies ‎that can accommodate the contrasting regulatory expectations in ‎the states coined ‎‎“anti-ESG” versus the “pro-ESG” states. This scenario not only involves ‎managing ‎legal and compliance ‎risks but also managing reputational risks.

We are happy to provide the 2023 edition of our Excess and Surplus Lines Law Manual. This edition reflects all of the pertinent changes in the surplus lines laws and regulations of the 50 states and U.S. territories during the past year. The website provides you with the ability to click on the states and territories of interest to view the updates, and a PDF of the entire manual.

The Connecticut General Assembly has proposed a bill that would permit owners of self-storage businesses to sell property insurance to their tenants.  Under Senate Bill 1037 (the “Bill”), an owner is required to obtain a self-service storage insurance license in order to sell such insurance and the insurance policy must be issued by an insurer that is authorized to write such lines of business in Connecticut.  The Bill would not require tenants of self-storage businesses to buy insurance.

At the December National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Fall National Meeting, the Surplus Lines Working Group adopted changes to the IID Plan of Operation.  The updated Plan of Operation incorporates, among others, the changes noted in our October posting below.  The 2023 Plan of Operation is now available at the “Documents” tab of the Surplus Lines Working Group home page.”

On October 19, 2022, the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) Surplus Lines Working Group exposed proposed changes to the International Insurers Department (IID) Plan of Operation applicable to insurers domiciled outside the U.S. (alien) participating in the U.S. insurance market.