News from the Surplus Lines Industry and InsCipher
Please review the important Assessment Order from the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) announcing an increase to the Maintenance Assessment Fee for business conducted during the 2025 calendar year, payable in 2026.
Our team will be working on updating the InsCipher portal to reflect this change and ensure accurate reporting and payment calculations moving forward.
ELANY has issued Bulletin 2025-23 regarding the enactment of Legislation A 3795 which introduces a new disclosure requirement for Line of Business code 7400.
As a courtesy, we will make the required disclosure statement available within the portal for use during policy issuance. Please note, however, that this disclosure is also required to be included in the application.
This legislation will take effect on November 15, 2025.
If you require further clarification or have specific questions, please contact ELANY directly.
Please review Bulletin 2025-21 from ELANY, which advises of significant changes to coverage codes and risk/industry codes beginning December 15, 2025.
We are currently working to update these codes within the portal to ensure a smooth transition ahead of the effective date.
We’ll provide additional updates once the changes are fully implemented.
Please review the announcement from the Washington Surplus Lines Association advising that they will no longer accept physical check payments effective January 1, 2026.
All payments must be submitted electronically after this date.
Please be advised of the following notice from the Georgia Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner (GA OCI) regarding the Florida Surplus Lines Service Office (FSLSO). The FSLSO SLIP+ team will begin conducting compliance reviews to ensure adherence to applicable surplus lines regulations and reporting requirements:
Beginning in October 2025, the Florida Surplus Lines Service Office (FSLSO) SLIP+ team will begin conducting compliance reviews of Georgia-licensed surplus lines brokers on behalf of the Georgia Department of Insurance, Office of Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner (GA OCI). The purpose of this program is to ensure brokers are meeting statutory requirements for policy filing and tax remittance, while also providing educational assistance to strengthen compliance practices across the Georgia surplus lines market. Compliance reviews will verify that:
Reviews may be conducted on-site at the broker’s office or as a remote (desk) audit, depending on circumstances and mutual agreement.
Brokers selected for review will receive advance notice and detailed instructions to prepare the required records.
Compliance reviews may be scheduled on a routine basis, at random, or as a result of identified reporting discrepancies.
In many cases, reviews result in either no findings or minor corrections. However, significant non-compliance may be referred to GA OCI for further action.
For additional information on the process, preparations, and requirements, please refer to the following BULLETIN 25-EX-03 - IMPLEMENTATION OF NEW COMPLIANCE REVIEW PROGRAM.
You may also visit SLIP+ Compliance Review for additional information.
Georgia OCI
2 Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive
West Tower, Suite 702
Atlanta, GA 30334 404.656.7553 • Office
The Alabama Department of Insurance is adopting the SLIP+ for States platform for the reporting and payment of Surplus Lines taxes on all Surplus Lines policies and endorsements on policies effective January 1, 2026 and later. Once additional clarification is received from the state, we will update our tax calculator to accommodate these changes. Please review the bulletin below released by SLIP+ for States:
The Alabama Department of Insurance is adopting SLIP+ for States for the reporting and payment of all Alabama surplus lines premium taxes beginning January 1, 2026.
“Launching SLIP+ for States in Alabama reflects our shared commitment to innovation and service,” said Tiffany Andersen, Director of SLIP+ Client Services. “Our goal is to make surplus lines filings faster, clearer, and more intuitive for everyone involved. Through our partnership with the Alabama Department of Insurance, brokers and regulators alike will have the tools and support they need to simplify filings and strengthen compliance.”
For all Alabama policies effective January 1, 2026, and later, and for all subsequent endorsements to those policies, Alabama surplus lines brokers will report policy information in SLIP+. Surplus lines premium tax invoices will be available for payment in SLIP+ on a quarterly basis beginning April 1, 2026.
Alabama surplus lines policies with effective dates before January 1, 2026, and endorsements to those policies, will continue to be filed through OPTins using the ID-12 form until renewal. New users of SLIP+ for States will need to register prior to making their first filing. Filers already registered with SLIP+ for States do not need to register again.
The SLIP+ team will host a training webinar in January 2026 to familiarize brokers with SLIP+ for States and the associated filing and invoicing processes. Additional training materials and a recording of the webinar will be available at slipplus.com.
“We’re proud to offer a technology solution that simplifies the filing process for Alabama’s surplus lines community, and we’re honored to partner with the Alabama Department of Insurance in this effort,” commented Mark Shealy, FSLSO Executive Director. “As SLIP+ for States expands across multiple states, it creates a more consistent and streamlined experience for brokers, making compliance, reporting, and tax payments easier for our clients and their regulators.”
For more information, please see the bulletin from the Alabama Department of Insurance or contact the SLIP+ for States team at info@slipplus.com or (877) 267-9855, option 1.
The State of Connecticut Insurance Department has issued Bulletin SL-6, which introduces a minor modification to the diligent effort requirements for surplus lines placements. In addition to this update, the bulletin also reaffirms the existing surplus lines placement requirements to ensure compliance and clarity for all licensees.
We recommend reviewing Bulletin SL-6 in detail to understand the updated standards and ensure that all placement procedures align with the revised guidance.
ELANY has emailed out the following notice regarding Multi-Factor Authentication. We are passing this along in case you did not receive it directly:
Dear Member,
This email is for EEFS/AEROS broker administrators.
ELANY’s records for the week of 09/22/2025 show what appear to be concurrent logins with the same user credentials.
ELANY soon will be implementing MFA (Multi-Factors Authentication) in our EEFS/AEROs system for users who log in with a username and password.
Users with the same login credentials will not be able to log into EEFS/AEROs at the same time.
To ensure your teams are not impacted by our upcoming MFA implementation, we are asking you to set up unique logins (usernames) for each of your team members if you have not done so already. Instructions to add logins.
Please see the attached email for more information and contact ELANYHelpdesk@elany.org if you have any questions.
Please review the notice issued by the Surplus Line Association of Washington regarding their change of address, effective October 9, 2025. Kindly update your records accordingly.
Section 22 of Maine Chapter 348 S.P. 720 - L.D. 1837 has repealed the current version of 24-A MRSA 2009 in its entirety.
At Application
At Policy Delivery