Staff News

The Surplus Line Association of California is committed to fostering a healthy, fair and competitive marketplace. Our board of directors, under the leadership of Janet Beaver, unanimously decided to lower California’s stamping fee from .25% to .18%. Faced with historic inflation, concerns of recession, global political unrest, and emerging from Covid-19, the Surplus Line Association of California continues to grow its services for stakeholders while reducing cost. And that’s a win! We’re here to help.  

We’ve created this 2-minute video with all the important details. Take a look!  

For more detailed information about how and when to apply the new stamping fee to new and renewal business, endorsements, non-expiring policies, and master policy certificates, please visit our Stamping Fee Information website. 

You can also email or call us at 415.434.4900 if you have questions about this change.  

For the first time ever, on April 19, 2022, the SLA partnered with the Excess Line Association of New York (ELANY) to offer a continuing education course to the members of both associations!

This kind of unprecedented collaboration between two of the largest and most prominent leaders in the surplus line association world marked a historic moment, and for this first-ever collaborative CE course, ELANY and the SLA chose a topic of high importance to their associations, the surplus lines industry, and our entire society: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI).

The webinar—“Diversity, Equity and Inclusion You Can Use—A Practical Approach”—discussed practical steps that insurance producers and professionals, both as managers and individuals, can implement to make their organizations more diverse, equitable, and inclusive.

The SLA’s collaboration with ELANY, as with all of its outreach to its industry partners, was driven by the Board of Directors’ longstanding charge for the SLA to be a modern, credible leader in the surplus lines industry. The SLA also has accepted the challenge from its board to be a leader on the important topic of DEI. This partnership was a big step forward on both of these charges.

It is important for the SLA to be not just a California leader, but a national leader as well. More than half of the SLA’s licensed members live and work outside California, and they can be found in almost every state. This new collaborative approach has enabled the SLA to gain additional access to its members across the country, wherever they may be.

The SLA was pleased to partner with ELANY on this worthwhile project and thanks its executive director, Dan Maher, and his team for collaborating with the SLA on this historic partnership.

Cliston Brown, the SLA’s vice president for Public Affairs, testified March 11, 2021, before the State Senate Committee on Insurance. He appeared at the request of committee staff to provide information to legislators about trends in wildfire coverage and commercial lines.

In his testimony on Thursday, Cliston reminded committee members of what the SLA is and what it does, provided relevant data about the marketplace, and let them know what members are telling the SLA about key issues affecting the industry.

In recent years, the SLA has increasingly been called upon by legislators to provide them useful data and information about the surplus lines industry in California. This is the result of the SLA building bridges with legislators, regulators and staff, to ensure that policymakers know they can come to the SLA whenever they have questions about the industry. This bridge building and ongoing communications has helped prevent unintended consequences of well-intended legislation or regulation on several occasions.

Members of the SLA Board, Pam Quilici and Susan Atkins, and staff, Joy Erven, Annie McFate, Tatiana Li, Nadeen Saad, Candace Wong-Sing, Alice Do, Erin Reagan, and Sandhya Dhital attended the Women in Insurance conference yesterday in downtown San Francisco!

The conference, held at the Marriott in Union Square, had a total of 19 speakers who covered different aspects of leadership in the workplace and provided insight and skillsets to succeed. Those who attended listened in on enlightening discussions covering everything from the development of personal leadership styles and the value of mentorship to career planning and body language for leaders.

On Wednesday, August 21, 2019, the SLA’s Cliston Brown testified at the State Capitol before the Assembly Insurance Committee on homeowners’ insurance issues, which are front and center in Sacramento right now due to the ongoing market dislocations resulting from wildfire issues.

In his testimony, he briefed the committee members on the SLA, what it does, and who it represents, and then provided some statistics on how much of the surplus line industry’s business is in homeowners’ coverage. Brown’s testimony was well received by the committee and committee staff.

The SLA continues to take every opportunity to make itself known to key decision-makers in Sacramento and Washington, D.C., and increasingly, it is earning a seat at the table when issues pertinent to our industry are discussed. It is the SLA’s goal to establish a reputation as helpful and reliable participants in these policy deliberations with good data and useful perspectives.