Maine

General Information:

1. Maine maintains a list of eligible surplus lines insurers (see Other Comments section #1).
2. Maine does not have a Surplus Line Association; however, there is a New England SLA which Maine brokers may become members of.
3. Maine does not have an Export List.
4. Maine does have an industrial insured exemption with respect to captive insurers only (see Appendix C) and also recognizes the NRRA exempt commercial purchaser exemption.
5. Surplus lines tax: ‎3% (applied retroactively to Jan. 1, 2023) of ‎difference between gross premiums and return ‎premiums (within 45 days of end of each ‎quarter and annually), payable by broker.‎
6. Bureau of Insurance Bulletin 378, issued June ‎‎17, 2011, discusses NRRA implementation in ‎Maine. Bureau of Insurance Bulletin 457, ‎issued April 14, 2021, discusses placement of ‎insurance in the Surplus Lines Market and ‎supplements, but does not replace Bulletin 378.‎
7. Maine does not allow the formation of domestic surplus lines ‎insurers in the state.‎

Eligibility and Filing Requirements (Alien Insurers Only):

A surplus lines broker may place insurance with an alien insurer if that insurer is listed on the Quarterly List of Alien Insurers maintained by the NAIC. 24-A MRSA § 2007(5).

Eligibility and Filing Requirements (Foreign Insurers Only):

A surplus lines broker may place insurance with a nonadmitted insurer not domiciled in the U.S if:

• The insurer is authorized to place that type of insurance in its domiciliary jurisdiction; and
• The insurer has capital and surplus, or its equivalent under the laws of its domiciliary jurisdiction, that is the greater of the minimum capital and surplus requirements under the laws of this state or $15 million.

The insurance commissioner may waive the minimum capital and surplus requirements for unauthorized foreign insurers if he makes an affirmative finding of acceptability after considering: quality of management, capital and surplus of a parent company, company underwriting profit and investment trends, market availability, and company record and reputation within the industry. The commissioner may not make a finding of acceptability if the insurer’s capital and surplus is under $4.5 million. 24-A MRSA § 2007(4).

Types of Insurance Exempted from Surplus Lines Regulation. (See Other Comments section #3):

1. Wet marine and transportation insurance.
2. Insurance on subjects located, resident, or to be performed wholly outside of Maine, or on vehicles or aircraft owned and principally garaged outside Maine.
3. Insurance on operations of railroads engaged in transportation in interstate commerce and their property used in such operations.
4. Insurance of aircraft owned or operated by manufacturers of aircraft or of aircraft operated in commercial interstate flight or cargo of such aircraft or against liability other than workers’ compensation and employers’ liability arising out of the ownership, maintenance or use of such aircraft.

Other Comments or Requirements:

1. Bureau of Insurance Bulletin 457, effective April ‎‎14, 2021,‎ sets forth clear rules for producers to follow in determining whether to place coverage in surplus lines:
   • • Life insurance, health insurance (except disability insurance), and employee benefit excess (“stop-loss”) insurance; reinsurance; and workers’ compensation insurance may not go into surplus lines.
     • Motor vehicle insurance should not generally go into surplus lines because an assigned risk market is available.
     • For other risks, the following conditions apply:
       • The insurance must be procured through a licensed producer with surplus lines authority.
       • The coverage must be necessary for the adequate protection of the risk in Maine. This requires the producer to review the needs of the particular risk. If adequate protection is available in the admitted market, then the producer may not place the risk in the     surplus lines market.
       • The coverage must be one that an authorized insurer may write.
       • The producer must have made a diligent effort to place coverage with authorized insurers. Maine’s diligent effort requirements are arguably the most rigid. Pursuant to Bulletin 457, dated April 14, 2021, a “producer may not place a risk in the surplus lines market if the desired coverage exists in the admitted market.” As such, it is comparatively difficult for a surplus lines insurer to place coverage in Maine as compared to other states, which simply require a producer obtain 3 declinations, as opposed to confirm total market unavailability.
2. Eligibility list available at this company licensing search engine at https://www.pfr.maine.gov/almsonline/almsquery/SearchCompany.aspx.
3. The most effective way to get approval as a surplus lines insurer in Maine is to provide a unique or “special” program for which there is a “need” in Maine.
4. Exempted coverages (1-4 above) must be placed with an eligible surplus lines insurer; however, surplus lines brokers are not required to perform a diligent search of the admitted market prior to placing the coverage.
5. Per Title 24-A § 2412-A of the Maine Insurance Laws, any contract of insurance issued to a large commercial policyholder pursuant to this section, is also exempt from the diligent search requirement.
6. Every insurance contract procured and delivered as a surplus lines coverage must have stamped upon it, and bearing the name of the producer with surplus lines authority who procured it, the following:
   “This insurance contract is issued pursuant to the Maine Insurance Laws by an insurer neither licensed by nor under the jurisdiction of the Maine Bureau of Insurance.”
7. Bureau Insurance 457 sets forth comprehensive ‎standards relating to the diligent search ‎requirement, noting that “doing a specific number of inquiries does not mean that the producer has fulfilled this requirement” and “[t]he test . . . is whether admitted coverage is available to the insured, not whether it is available to a particular producer.” The bulletin also requires all surplus lines insurers to be on the state’s eligibility list, and prohibits life, health, stop-loss, reinsurance, workers’ compensation and motor vehicle insurance are generally prohibited from being written on a surplus lines basis in the state.
8. Maine has a cancellation and nonrenewal ‎statute expressly set forth under its surplus ‎lines laws. However, Maine has recently taken ‎the position that while some of its other ‎cancellation and norenewal statutes outside of ‎the surplus lines laws do not apply to the ‎surplus lines market, other cancellation and ‎nonrenewal statutes applicable to certain ‎specific lines of insurance set forth outside of ‎the surplus lines laws (such as homeowners’ ‎insurance) do apply to surplus lines insurers.‎