3.2 The Insured Disclosure & the 2025 Repeal of Diligent Effort

For decades, Florida required a diligent effort to place a risk in the admitted market before it could be exported. That rule no longer exists. House Bill 1549, enacted as Chapter 2025-145, Laws of Florida, and effective July 1, 2025, removed the diligent-effort requirement. The insured's signed or documented acknowledgment of a statutory disclosure now carries that consumer-protection role.

What Changed

The FSLSO's announcement of HB 1549 summarized the change the same way: the bill eliminated the diligent-effort requirement and added the rates-and-forms language to the disclosure the insured signs before placement.

The Statutory Disclosure: s. 626.916(1)(d)

The insured must have signed or otherwise provided documented acknowledgment of a disclosure in substantially this form:

"You are agreeing to place coverage in the surplus lines market. Coverage may be available in the admitted market. Persons insured by surplus lines carriers are not protected under the Florida Insurance Guaranty Act with respect to any right of recovery for the obligation of an insolvent unlicensed insurer. Additionally, surplus lines insurers' policy rates and forms are not approved by any Florida regulatory agency."

The disclosure contains four messages:

1. Choice: you are agreeing to place coverage in the surplus lines market.
2. Alternatives: coverage may be available in the admitted market.
3. No guaranty fund: the Florida Insurance Guaranty Act does not protect you if an unlicensed insurer becomes insolvent.
4. No rate or form approval: no Florida regulator approves surplus lines rates or forms.

Who Handles the Disclosure

The FSLSO's published guidance answers the questions candidates most often miss:

• Who signs? The insured or the insured's designee. The producing agent is not required to sign.
• Who obtains and keeps it? Obtaining and maintaining a complete disclosure is the responsibility of the retail (producing) agent, the one who deals with the insured. A surplus lines agent must obtain and maintain it only when acting in both capacities, as producer and surplus lines agent. The FSLSO still calls it best practice for the surplus lines agent to keep a copy to confirm that the disclosure was completed.
• What form? "Signed or otherwise provided documented acknowledgment," so an electronic acknowledgment that is documented satisfies the statute.

What Did Not Change

Removing diligent effort did not make every risk exportable.

• The rate, form, and deductible conditions in s. 626.916(1)(a) to (c) still apply.
• The insurer must still be eligible, and a licensed Florida surplus lines agent must still place the coverage (s. 626.915).
• The policy must still carry the s. 626.924 stamps, which repeat the guaranty-act warning and, in 14-point bold type, the statement that rates and forms are not approved.
• Section 626.915 still describes surplus lines as coverage that "cannot be procured from authorized insurers."
• The agent's quarterly affidavit under s. 626.931(2) is still described in statute as including efforts made to place coverage with authorized insurers and the results. Complete the affidavit exactly as the FSLSO's prescribed form requires.

Applying the Rule

Scenario 1. A retail agent receives a surplus lines quote for a Miami apartment building on August 1, 2026 without having approached any admitted carrier. No declinations are needed. The retail agent must obtain the insured's signed or documented acknowledgment of the s. 626.916(1)(d) disclosure before placement.

Scenario 2. A wholesale surplus lines agent also acts as the producing agent for a direct client. Because the agent acts in both capacities, that agent must obtain and keep the signed disclosure.

Scenario 3. An insured later claims no one told them admitted coverage might be available. If the insured signed the disclosure, s. 626.916(1)(d) presumes the insured was informed and knew other coverage might be available.

Exam Traps

• Old study materials still refer to "three declinations." For policies placed on or after July 1, 2025, that is no longer a Florida requirement.
• The disclosure requires the insured's acknowledgment, not OIR approval and not an FSLSO signature.
• "Documented acknowledgment" is enough; a wet-ink signature is not the only option. A signature, however, triggers the statutory presumption.