Insurance License Hub

The Hawaii Surplus Lines Broker license

Surplus Lines Broker

Places business with insurers Hawaii has not authorized, on top of a producer license and its own written paper. The statute closes the door on three producer lines by name: a producer holding only life, accident and health, or variable products cannot have it.

Course

None

This license has no pre-licensing course route.

Ways in

3

2 of them skip the state exam.

Exam

$75

Required on some routes and not others.

Every way to qualify

More than one route leads to this license, and which one you take changes what you study and whether you sit the exam. There is no pre-licensing course among them: this license is qualified for by sitting the examination, a license held in another state or moving here already licensed.

  1. Route 1 Pass the surplus lines broker paper

    State exam required

    The producer license underneath, and the three lines it may not be

    • a Hawaii insurance producer license under article 9A, other than one held solely for the life, accident and health or sickness, or variable life and variable annuity products lines of authority, which 431:8-310(d) excludes by name

    and fingerprints, and a paper no more than two years old

    • A full set of fingerprints, including a scanned file from a hard copy, for national and state criminal history record checks from the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Hawaii criminal justice data center, and a passing score on the surplus lines broker examination obtained within the two years immediately preceding the application or the issuance of the license, whichever is later

    431:8-310(b) is five findings, of which the substantive ones are the examination within two years and the fingerprints; 431:8-324(a) then describes the paper and it is broader than the license's name suggests, testing property, marine and transportation, vehicle, general casualty and surety insurance, the duties of a surplus lines broker, and Hawaii's insurance laws and rules. 431:8-324(c) sends a candidate who fails to appear or fails the paper back to reapply and pay again before rescheduling, and (d) expires a passing score after two years. 431:8-310(d) is the clause worth carrying out of the article: the commissioner "shall issue a surplus lines broker license to any producer licensed under article 9A, except producers licensed under section 431:9A-107(a)(1), (2), or (5)", which are life, accident and health or sickness, and variable life and variable annuity products. Read against 431:8-324(a), which puts the paper on every applicant not exempt under 431:8-323, the exception is about which producer lines can carry the license rather than about who is excused the examination. No course is required and there is no register of one.

    Read at capitol.hawaii.gov on 2026-08-19

  2. Route 2 Hold a surplus lines license in another state

    Exempt from the state exam

    • a license to sell surplus lines insurance in another state, currently held, or cancelled within the last 90 days with that state certifying good standing at cancellation or the NAIC producer database showing the license was in good standing

    431:8-323(a) removes "any prelicensing education or examination" for a nonresident applicant previously licensed to sell surplus lines elsewhere, on the same ninety-day cancellation clause the producer article uses at 431:9A-109(a). It is worth noting how far this differs from the adjuster: the Division states flatly that there is no reciprocity for adjusters, and the surplus lines broker gets the full producer-style exemption.

    Read at capitol.hawaii.gov on 2026-08-19

  3. Route 3 Move to Hawaii and apply within 90 days

    Exempt from the state exam

    • 90 days Licensed as a surplus lines broker in another state, moving to Hawaii, and applying to become a resident licensee under 431:8-310 within 90 days of establishing legal residence.

    431:8-323(b), and its last clause is the qualification that matters: no prelicensing education or examination is required for a line previously held in the prior state, "provided that the commissioner may impose these or other requirements by rule".

    Read at capitol.hawaii.gov on 2026-08-19

No national seller sells a course for this license, though Hawaii does examine for it: HRS 431:8-324(a) describes a paper covering property, marine and transportation, vehicle, general casualty and surety insurance along with the broker's duties and Hawaii law. every Hawaii product sellers carry is for a producer line or for the adjuster.