A. No person shall in New Mexico be, act as or hold out to be a surplus lines broker, or place insurance of risks where New Mexico is the home state of the insured in any nonadmitted insurer on behalf of others and for compensation as an independent contractor in any form, unless licensed as a surplus lines broker under Chapter 59A, Article 14 NMSA 1978.
B. The superintendent shall, upon due application and payment of the license fee, issue a license as surplus lines broker to a person qualified as follows:
(1) if the applicant is an individual, the individual must have had experience or special training or education sufficient in duration and character to render the applicant, in the opinion of the superintendent, reasonably competent to engage in business as a surplus lines broker; and
(2) if the applicant is a firm or corporation, all individuals to represent it as a surplus lines broker in this state must be licensed surplus lines brokers.
History: Laws 1984, ch. 127, § 245; 1999, ch. 272, § 19; 1999, ch. 289, § 21; 2011, ch. 127, § 11; 2011, ch. 156, § 8.
ANNOTATIONS2011 Multiple Amendments. — Laws 2011, ch. 127, § 11 and Laws 2011, ch. 156, § 8 enacted different amendments to this section that can be reconciled. Pursuant to 12-1-8 NMSA 1978, Laws 2011, ch. 156, § 8, as the last act signed by the governor, is set out above and incorporates both amendments. The amendments enacted by Laws 2011, ch. 127, § 11 and Laws 2011, ch. 156, § 8 are described below. To view the session laws in their entirety, see the 2011 session laws on NMOneSource.com.
Laws 2011, ch. 156, § 8, effective June 17, 2011, limited the placement of insurance in nonadmitted insurers for insureds whose home state is New Mexico and eliminated the requirement that brokers provide a bond.
Laws 2011, ch. 127, § 11, effective July 1, 2011, in Subsection B, distinguished between applicants who are individuals and applicants who are firms or corporations, and eliminated the requirement that a bond be filed with the application.
Applicability. — Laws 2011, ch. 156, § 11 provided that the provisions §§ 3 through 10 of Laws 2011, ch. 156 are applicable to insurance policies issued on or after July 21, 2011.
1999 amendments. — Identical amendments to this section were enacted by Laws 1999, ch. 272, § 19, effective June 18, 1999, approved April 8, 1999, and Laws 1999, ch. 289, § 21, also effective June 18, 1999, approved later on April 8, 1999, which updated the statutory references throughout the section; deleted former Subsection B(1), which read "must, if an individual, be a resident of New Mexico"; redesignated former Subsections B(2) to B(4) as Subsections B(1) to B(3); substituted "an insurance agent" for "a resident insurance agent" in Subsection B(1); and substituted "licensed agents" for "residents of New Mexico and licensed agents operating an insurance business in this state" in the first sentence of Subsection B(2). The section is set out as amended by Laws 1999, ch. 289, § 21. See 12-1-8 NMSA 1978.