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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | March 6, 2024 10:26 AM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Devlin J. Robinson |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Ensuring Access to Surplus Lines Insurance |
| Soon, I will introduce legislation to bring clarity and uniformity to the insurance market by codifying a surplus lines fee structure for personal transactions. Recently, a Pennsylvania Supreme Court case resulted in substantial unintended consequences for surplus lines insurance, a small but critical segment of the Pennsylvania insurance market. This specialty insurance covers consumers who are unable to obtain traditional coverage due to the risk for items such as a boat or art collection. Current insurance law says that licensees can charge a fee in addition to commission for selling commercial insurance. In Woodford v. Insurance Department, the courts ruled that because the law is specific to commercial products, the statute should be interpreted to mean it prohibits the charging of fees for non-commercial (private) insurance products. The ruling established broad precedent impacting surplus lines brokers who had nothing to do with the underlying case. As a result, Pennsylvania is the only state in the country that does not allow surplus lines brokers to recoup their costs when seeking insurance not available in the typical insurance market, and brokers will find it increasingly difficult to remain in business. Please join me in co-sponsoring this legislation which will facilitate availability of insurance products for hard-to-place risks. |
Introduced as SB1148