SLA Quarterly THE SURPLUS LINE ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA | WINTER 2012 SLA ELECTS OFFICERS www.slacal.org Davis Moore Pam Quilici Ian Fitt Chairman, 2012 Vice Chairman, 2012 Secretary-Treasurer, 2012 Presiding over the Surplus Line As- went into effect and will give a big Secretary-Treasurer was Ian Fitt, sociation of California’s 75th An- boost to interstate insurance transac- President of Western Re Managers nual Meeting held in San Francisco tions by simplifying the system of Insurance Services, Inc. In addition, on January 24 and Los Angeles on premium tax allocation among the ten Executive Committee members January 26, 2012, the Association states. were elected as follows: Les Ross of Chairman, Patrick Hanley called the Wholesale Trading Co-Op Insurance meeting to order and thanked the After reports from the Secretary- Services, LLC, Dean Andrighetto of Executive Committee and his stand- Treasurer, and the Director of the Westchester Specialty Insurance Ser- ing committee chairs for their dedi- Stamping Office, Chairman Hanley vices, Denis Brady of RT Specialty, cation and service to the industry. In moved to the major business item Chris Brown of Brown & Riding In- reviewing the year, Chairman Pat- of the meeting – the election of of- surance Services, Inc., John Edack rick Hanley noted significant legis- ficers. The meeting attendees were of Arch Specialty Insurance Agen- lative changes had occurred in 2011 read the slate of officers and execu- cy, Inc., Rupert Hall of M. J. Hall & at both the state and federal level. tive committee members who had Company, Inc., Phil Mazur of Swett The California Legislature’s bill, A.B. been nominated to serve in 2012. & Crawford, Anne McNally of Wells 315, went into effect, which raises the The nominees are as follows: Elected Fargo Insurance Services, Inc., Ger- minimum capital and surplus for the Chairman was Davis Moore, Presi- ald J. Sullivan of Gerald J. Sullivan List of Approved Surplus Line Insur- dent of Worldwide Facilities, Inc., & Associates, Inc., Patrick Hanley of ers from $15 million to $45 million. elected Vice Chairman was Pamela Socius Insurance. Also, the federal Non-admitted and Quilici, Executive Vice President of Quarterly Reinsurance Reform Act (NRRA) Crouse & Associates, and elected The Chairman then asked for any The Surplus Line Association of California THE SURPLUS LINE ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA The Surplus Line Association of California Safeguarding Consumers outstanding nominations from the Chairman then called upon the SLA a replica of the Lutine Bell that hangs floor; hearing none, the slate of nom- General Counsel, Jim Woods of in the trading room of Lloyd’s, as a inees was put to a vote which was Dewey & LeBoeuf, to provide a legal token of appreciation for his year of unanimous in its favor of the slate. update. service. The Chairman also asked for a vote At the conclusion of the business The business session of the SLA An- to approve the appointment of Jus- meeting, the incoming Chairman, nual Meeting can be viewed on the www.slacal.org tice Harry Low (Ret.) for a one year Davis Moore, presented the outgo- SLA website (www.slacal.org) under term as SLA Mediator. The motion ing Chairman, Patrick Hanley, with Publications, Video, Annual Meeting to appoint Harry Low as Mediator 2012, WATCH. passed with unanimous vote. The REPORT OF THE DIRECTOR OF THE STAMPING OFFICE Joy Erven, Director, Stamping Office side by side with the CDI protecting the Audit Committee and our Strate- consumers for 75 years. gic planning session. He spent many hours on SLA business and I extend This past year was significant on the gratitude of the Association and many fronts. And I would like to the membership. thank Patrick Hanley, who served as our chairman, for leading us through Looking back, 2011 will go down in a challenging year that had changes the books as the year of NRRA. Few on the state, as well as national of us will forget the countdown to On January 24th and 26th, the Sur- fronts. Pat showed strong leadership July 21, 2011. The anticipation, ner- plus Line Association held its Annu- and courage during these times. I ap- vousness, and apprehension can al Meetings in San Francisco and Los preciate the dedication and encour- only be likened to how we felt dur- Angeles. The Annual Meetings, and agement he gave me throughout the ing Y2K. Part of the Dodd Frank the new year, are a time to reflect on year. legislation, the language that per- the accomplishments of the past year tained to the surplus lines industry Patrick- as chairman presided over as well as look ahead to the ways we resulted in changes to how taxes are multiple executive committee meet- can improve our association and our filed and relied heavily on the defi- ings, took part in many conference services to our members. nition of home state. The bill needed calls, pulled double duty as chair- some work on the state front which man of our WSSLC 2012 planning The Surplus Line Association was resulted in AB315. AB 315 was a cu- committee as well as presiding over formed in 1937, and we have worked mulative effort of many people that The Surplus Line Association of California | SLA QUARTERLY | WINTER 2012 SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA • WWW.SLACAL.ORG The Surplus Line Association of California Safeguarding Consumers created a bill that would help guide as well as fine tune processes relat- there has been a significant change to how California surplus lines brokers ing to NRRA requirements. The SLA the reporting on the forms, and the implement NRRA. It is important will continue to work with Infinity Department now asks that the pre- we acknowledge the many hours Software for several more months mium is broken out by state. of work numerous individuals put to refine the software, and speed up California is the host state of the in. We appreciate the support and processing times. Western States Surplus Lines Confer- hard work of the follow individu- Statistically we saw encouraging ence this year. The dates of the con- als: From our Executive Committee: news in 2011.We were happy to see a ference are July 25 to 28th and when Hank Haldeman and Jerry Sullivan. 3.29% over 2010 with filed premium California hosts it has historically From the Department of Insurance- processed of $4,340,111 The surplus been the most well attended West- Carol Frair, Jill Jacobi, Susan Stapp, lines market continues to gain back ern States Conference. The confer- Louie Quan, Al Bottalico, Emma ground and we are optimistic for a ence was originally a small meeting Hirschhorn, Keith Kuzmich, Laura productive 2012. for the various SLA office scattered Alarcon, and from Dewey & LeBoeuf around the country to get together : Jim Woods, Nicole Zayac, and Hil- The Stamping fees invoiced were and share information about the sur- ary Kang $10,709,286 and the Item count was plus lines industry. It has grown to up 9% from 2010 at 459,097. Another significant milestone was include surplus lines brokers, sur- Members of our association dropped the implementation of SLIP, the on plus lines insurer and reinsurers. slightly to 4679. This is a natural lev- line filing system the SLA has spent This year’s conference will be held eling off after the meteoric rise when many years developing. We went at the beautiful St Regis Monarch the new licensing rules went into ef- live in August and in the first 120 Beach Resort in Dana Point. There is fect a few years ago. days of releasing, over 600 members a website devoted to the event you have used the system, submitting The Education department held can access thru the SLA homepage. 2,231 batches, and responding to seminars throughout California. The CE classes will be offered as well as nearly 7,000 tags/alerts. The batches SLA responded to the needs of our Industry updates. were comprised of over 14,000 items. members for NRRA education as The Surplus Line Association contin- Over 400 different brokerages and well and hosted webinars, as well ues to be a vibrant association – ded- companies are using SLIP for Cali- as live classes in SF, Fresno and Los icated to our members, striving to fornia Surplus Lines processing. We Angeles. improve and enhance our services to have implemented over 47 improve- become an industry leader. Our vi- ments to the software which incor- As a reminder State taxes are due… sion for the future is one of efficiency porated user feedback and correc- as they are every year… on March and innovation: overseeing the fi- tion of some Bugs. We continue to 1st. I sent a bulletin out last week nancial stability of insurers doing accommodate broker feedback and with the link to the new forms. The business in California, educating our make enhancements to the system, forms are also posted on our website. It’s especially important to note that brokers with seminars, on line train- The Surplus Line Association of California | SLA QUARTERLY | WINTER 2012 THE SURPLUS LINE ASSOCIATION OF CALIFORNIA The Surplus Line Association of California Safeguarding Consumers ings, and webinars, and assisting in outstanding service to its Members. the collection of statutorily required The Managers -Pat McAuley, Linda I look forward to tackling the chal- documents for the Department of Cheng, Vienna Murray, and Mike lenges in the upcoming year. With Insurance. We will continue to listen Caturegli have done an excellent job the guidance of our Executive Com- to feedback regarding our on line fil- this year. They have worked long mittee and the newly elected Chair- ing system and implement enhance- hours and put the members first.