In 1986, commercial liability insurance was either unavailable or unaffordable for many U.S. public entities. It was during this "hard insurance market" that a group of public entity risk managers and insurance professionals met to investigate the potential for developing an insurance mechanism to fill the void for liability insurance for public entities with a long-term perspective. It was decided that the program should not attempt to provide all lines of coverage, but would focus on providing broad form excess liability insurance to public entities that generally self-insured their primary level of risk at a minimum of $250,000.

With the passage of the federal Liability Risk Retention Act of 1986, the organizers determined that, to take advantage of the economies provided under this law, a stock insurance company would be established and operate as a Risk Retention Group (RRG). The company was named States Self-Insurers Risk Retention Group, Inc. (States) and began operations by issuing its first policy effective July 1, 1988.

States has engaged Berkley Risk to provide the day-to-day management of the insurance company, including marketing, financial administration, underwriting, claims management services, loss control assistance, reinsurance management and other administrative services. Berkley Risk is a member company of the W. R. Berkley Corporation and provides program management services to hundreds of public entity clients across the United States involved in alternative risk financing. States' members consistently indicate that the assistance provided by Berkley Risk personnel has been one of the most beneficial resources they have access to in preventing losses from occurring in the first place, controlling losses that do occur, mitigating claims, and seeing lawsuits to the best conclusion possible.