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The Texas Department of Insurance on Wednesday, January 3, 2018 announced that it has issued the very first domestic surplus lines insurer (“DSLI”) certificate. The recipient company, Starr Surplus Lines Insurance Company, is an out-of-state company that has been approved by the Department to redomesticate to Texas and authorized to write surplus lines coverage.
House Bill 2492, which permits DSLIs in Texas, went into effect January 1, 2018. The bill was passed by the Legislature in May 2017 as part of the 85th legislative session. The new law allows Texas domestic insurers to apply for a DSLI certificate. Previously, a surplus lines insurer had to be domiciled outside of the state in order to write coverage in Texas.
The Surplus Lines Stamping Office of Texas (SLTX) is charged with maintaining a roster of all authorized (or “eligible”) surplus lines insurers in Texas. This roster can be found on the SLTX website's eligible insurers list.
With the passage of the law, Texas joins 11 other states (Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Illinois, Louisiana, Missouri, North Dakota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin) that also have this type of law in place.
