Delaware just made it easier for surplus lines brokers to place coverage in some of the market's trickiest risk categories.
On April 13, 2026, Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro signed a Final Order adopting the Export List under Docket No. 5917-2026, allowing 20 classes of insurance to be placed with eligible surplus lines insurers without the usual requirement of first shopping the admitted market. The order followed a public hearing held on March 19, 2026, and a comment period that drew input from across the industry, including written submissions from John Savant of Insurance Agents & Brokers and John Meetz of Wholesale & Specialty Insurance Association. No authorized insurer objected.
The practical effect is straightforward. For the classes of coverage on the list, brokers no longer need to conduct what Delaware law calls a "diligent search" among admitted carriers before going to the surplus lines market. The Commissioner determined, after hearing testimony and reviewing the record, that these are areas where the admitted market does not offer reasonable or adequate options, whether in terms of willingness to accept the risk, the contract terms available, or the premium rates being charged.
The list itself reads like a catalog of hard-to-place risks that surplus lines professionals will recognize immediately. It includes active assailant coverage, environmental impairment and pollution liability, flood insurance, and medicinal and recreational cannabis chain risks. Amusement-related exposures are well represented, covering everything from amusement devices and animal rides to casino and gaming risks and recreational and sporting events. Auto racing and auto race tracks, aviation for crop dusters, carnivals and circuses, demolition involving explosives, exterminators and pest control, fireworks displays, garbage and waste haulers, tattoo parlor, and vacant property and vacant buildings all made the cut.
Two categories come with more specific parameters. Products liability on a monoline basis and products recall on a monoline basis are each eligible for export, but only within defined manufacturing sectors: aircraft and component parts, automotive and component parts, farm and industrial equipment, firearms, medical equipment, petrochemicals, and pharmaceuticals.
Care facilities, encompassing day care, adult care, convalescent, and nursing home operations, also appear on the list, a category that has long posed challenges in the standard market.
The Department was careful to note that the Export List changes only the diligent search requirement. It does not alter insurer eligibility standards or the compliance obligations that brokers and producers already carry around disclosures, documentation, and reporting. All surplus lines placements must still comply with the requirements set out in Delaware's surplus lines statutes under Title 18, Chapter 19 of the Delaware Code.
The order is effective immediately and will remain the Department's official Export List until it is amended or superseded. The Department has posted the full list on its website and directed surplus lines tax questions to [email protected] and general inquiries about the Export List to [email protected].
For surplus lines brokers operating in Delaware, the takeaway is a cleaner path to placement for a defined set of risks that the admitted market has struggled to accommodate. It is an incremental but meaningful development in the state's regulatory landscape, and one worth noting for anyone writing business in these classes.
