Title 42, The Public Health and WelfareRelease 119-110

§9673 Risk Retention Groups

Title 42 › CHAPTER 103 — COMPREHENSIVE ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSE, COMPENSATION, AND LIABILITY › SUBCHAPTER IV — POLLUTION INSURANCE › § 9673

Last updated Sep 22, 2026|Official source

Summary

Risk retention groups are mostly free from state insurance rules that would stop or control their business. States cannot make their operation illegal, force them to join state insolvency guarantee funds, require in-state agents to sign their policies, or treat them differently from other insurers. States still have some power. The state that charters a group can set up and run it. States can enforce laws that apply to all businesses. A state may make a group follow its unfair-claims rules, pay taxes fairly like other insurers, join state systems that share pollution insurance losses, and file or share reports about pollution claims. A state insurance commissioner can get copies of a group’s financial reports, examine the group if there’s reason to think it is financially troubled and the chartering state has not acted, and enforce delinquency orders if the chartering state fails to start one. The exemptions cover pollution liability insurance, selling that insurance, and related insurance or management services. States may require agents or brokers working with a group to be licensed, but they cannot impose rules that treat nonresident agents unfairly.

Full Legal Text

Title 42, §9673

The Public Health and Welfare, Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)Exemption

Except as provided in this section, a risk retention group shall be exempt from the following:

(1)A State law, rule, or order which makes unlawful, or regulates, directly or indirectly, the operation of a risk retention group.

(2)A State law, rule, or order which requires or permits a risk retention group to participate in any insurance insolvency guaranty association to which an insurer licensed in the State is required to belong.

(3)A State law, rule, or order which requires any insurance policy issued to a risk retention group or any member of the group to be countersigned by an insurance agent or broker residing in the State.

(4)A State law, rule, or order which otherwise discriminates against a risk retention group or any of its members.

(b)Exceptions

(1)State laws generally applicable

Nothing in subsection (a) shall be construed to affect the applicability of State laws generally applicable to persons or corporations. The State in which a risk retention group is chartered may regulate the formation and operation of the group.

(2)State regulations not subject to exemption

Subsection (a) shall not apply to any State law which requires a risk retention group to do any of the following:

(A)Comply with the unfair claim settlement practices law of the State.

(B)Pay, on a nondiscriminatory basis, applicable premium and other taxes which are levied on admitted insurers and surplus line insurers, brokers, or policyholders under the laws of the State.

(C)Participate, on a nondiscriminatory basis, in any mechanism established or authorized under the law of the State for the equitable apportionment among insurers of pollution liability insurance losses and expenses incurred on policies written through such mechanism.

(D)Submit to the appropriate authority reports and other information required of licensed insurers under the laws of a State relating solely to pollution liability insurance losses and expenses.

(E)Register with and designate the State insurance commissioner as its agent solely for the purpose of receiving service of legal documents or process.

(F)Furnish, upon request, such commissioner a copy of any financial report submitted by the risk retention group to the commissioner of the chartering or licensing jurisdiction.

(G)Submit to an examination by the State insurance commissioner in any State in which the group is doing business to determine the group’s financial condition, if—

(i)the commissioner has reason to believe the risk retention group is in a financially impaired condition; and

(ii)the commissioner of the jurisdiction in which the group is chartered has not begun or has refused to initiate an examination of the group.

(H)Comply with a lawful order issued in a delinquency proceeding commenced by the State insurance commissioner if the commissioner of the jurisdiction in which the group is chartered has failed to initiate such a proceeding after notice of a finding of financial impairment under subparagraph (G).

(c)Application of exemptions

The exemptions specified in subsection (a) apply to—

(1)pollution liability insurance coverage provided by a risk retention group for—

(A)such group; or

(B)any person who is a member of such group;

(2)the sale of pollution liability insurance coverage for a risk retention group; and

(3)the provision of insurance related services or management services for a risk retention group or any member of such a group.

(d)Agents or brokers

A State may require that a person acting, or offering to act, as an agent or broker for a risk retention group obtain a license from that State, except that a State may not impose any qualification or requirement which discriminates against a nonresident agent or broker.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

42 U.S.C. § 9673

Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare

Last Updated

Sep 22, 2026

Release point: 119-110