Article 9. Issuance Of Licenses of California Insurance Code >> Division 1. >> Part 2. >> Chapter 5. >> Article 9.
All licenses issued pursuant to this chapter shall be issued
to the holder thereof.
Every applicant for an original license under this chapter,
Chapter 5A (commencing with Section 1759), Chapter 6 (commencing with
Section 1760), or Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 1800) shall, as
part of the application, endorse an authorization for disclosure to
the commissioner of financial records of any fiduciary funds as
defined in Section 1733, pursuant to Section 7473 of the Government
Code. The authorization shall continue in force and effect for so
long as the licensee continues to be licensed by the department.
(a) Any person acting as a licensee under this chapter shall
not act as an agent of an insurer unless the insurer has filed with
the commissioner a notice of appointment, executed by the insurer,
appointing the licensee as the insurer's agent. Every property
broker-agent, casualty broker-agent, personal lines broker-agent, or
limited lines automobile insurance agent acting in the capacity of an
insurance solicitor shall have filed on his or her behalf with the
commissioner a notice executed by an insurance agent or insurance
broker appointing and agreeing to employ the solicitor as an employee
within this state. Additional notices of appointment may be filed by
other insurers before the license is issued and thereafter as long
as the license remains in force. The authority to transact insurance
given to a licensee by an insurer, property broker-agent, casualty
broker-agent, personal lines broker-agent, or limited lines
automobile insurance agent, as the case may be, by appointment shall
be effective as of the date the notice of appointment is signed. That
authority to transact shall apply to transactions occurring after
that date and for the purpose of determining the insurer's, property
broker-agent's, casualty broker-agent's, personal lines broker-agent'
s, or limited lines automobile insurance agent's liability for acts
of the appointed licensee. No notice of appointment of a life agent,
property broker-agent, casualty broker-agent, personal lines
broker-agent, limited lines automobile insurance agent, or travel
insurance agent shall be filed under this subdivision unless the
licensee being appointed has consented to that filing. Each
appointment made under this subdivision shall by its terms continue
in force until:
(1) The cancellation or expiration of the license applied for or
held at the time the appointment was filed.
(2) The filing of a notice of termination by the insurer or
employing property broker-agent or casualty broker-agent, or by the
appointed life agent, property broker-agent, casualty broker-agent,
travel insurance agent, or insurance solicitor.
(b) Upon the termination of all appointments, or all endorsements
naming the licensee on the license of an organization licensee, and
the cancellation of the bond required pursuant to Section 1662 if
acting as a broker, the permanent license shall not be canceled, but
shall become inactive. It may be renewed pursuant to Section 1718. It
may be reactivated at any time prior to its expiration by the filing
of a new appointment pursuant to this section, Section 1707, and
Section 1751.3, or the filing of a new bond pursuant to Section 1662.
An inactive license shall not permit its holder to transact any
insurance for which a valid, active license is required.
(c) Upon the termination of all appointments of a person licensed
under a certificate of convenience, that certificate shall be
canceled and shall be returned by its lawful custodian to the
commissioner.
(d) A property broker-agent or a casualty broker-agent appointing
an insurance solicitor pursuant to this section, if a natural person,
shall be the holder of a permanent license to act as such a
broker-agent or the holder of a certificate of convenience so to act
issued pursuant to either subdivision (a) or (b) of Section 1685. If
the property broker-agent or the casualty broker-agent is an
organization, it shall be the holder of a permanent license.
(e) The filing of an incomplete or deficient action notice with
the department shall require the filing of an amended, complete
action notice, together with the payment of the fee therefor
specified in subdivision (l) of Section 1751.
(f) A notice of appointment appointing a solicitor may be filed by
a second or subsequent property broker-agent or casualty
broker-agent. The broker-agent seeking to appoint the solicitor shall
enter into an agreement with all other property broker-agents and
casualty broker-agents with whom the insurance solicitor has an
existing appointment. The agreement shall govern how the
broker-agents will determine on which property broker-agent's or
casualty broker-agent's behalf the solicitor is working when dealing
with individuals who are customers of none of the property
broker-agents and casualty broker-agents with whom the solicitor has
an appointment. If the agreement does not identify which broker-agent
or broker-agents are liable for the act of the solicitor, all
property broker-agents and casualty broker-agents with whom the
solicitor is appointed at the time of the act shall be jointly and
severally liable for that act.
(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), a licensed life
agent may present a proposal for insurance to a prospective
policyholder on behalf of a life insurer for which the life agent is
not specifically appointed, and may also transmit an application for
insurance to that insurer. If a policy of insurance is issued
pursuant to that application, the insurer is considered to have
authorized the agent to act on its behalf, and the insurer is
responsible for all actions of the agent that relate to the
application and policy as if the agent had been duly appointed for
the insurer. Not more than 14 days after the life agent submits an
application for insurance to the insurer for which the insurer issues
a policy, the insurer shall forward to the commissioner a notice of
appointment of the life agent as the insurer's agent in accordance
with the requirements of this article. Nothing in this section
obliges an insurer to accept an application for underwriting from a
life agent. Any payments made by the prospective policyholder prior
to issuance of the policy shall be made only in the form of a draft,
check, cashier's check, traveler's check, money order, or similar
instrument made payable to the insurer to which the application is
transmitted.
(b) A licensed life agent who is not specifically appointed for a
particular life insurer may not (1) present a proposal to a
prospective policyholder for insurance with that insurer or (2)
transmit an application for insurance to that insurer if the insurer
requires all its life agents to represent only that insurer or a
group of affiliated insurers of which that insurer is a member or to
submit risks to that insurer or group of affiliated insurers prior to
submitting them to other insurers.
An insurer, or employing property broker-agent or casualty
broker-agent, by filing a notice of appointment on behalf of an
applicant for an original license pursuant to Section 1704, and who
is not then licensed pursuant to this chapter or Chapter 6
(commencing with Section 1760), Chapter 7 (commencing with Section
1800), shall be deemed by that act to have declared that:
(a) The applicant is of good reputation.
(b) The applicant is worthy of the license sought.
An insurer, property broker-agent, or casualty broker-agent, by
filing a notice of appointment on behalf of an applicant for an
original license to act as a life agent, property broker-agent,
casualty broker-agent, or insurance solicitor, where the applicant
for any reason will not be issued a certificate of convenience
pending examination under Article 8 (commencing with Section 1685),
shall be deemed to have declared that the applicant has had
experience or instruction in classes of insurance, the transaction of
which is authorized by the license sought, or will be given the
necessary instruction within 30 days after the issuance of the
license.
Should the applicant for a life agent, property broker-agent, or
casualty broker-agent license be a copartnership, corporation, or
association, the insurer filing the appointment shall be deemed to
have made the declarations set forth in subdivisions (a) and (b) of
this section as regards both the business organization and each
natural person whose name appears in the application as one to
exercise the agency powers of the license sought. The insurer shall
be deemed to have made the declaration in the preceding paragraph
only as regards the natural person or persons to be named on the
organization's license initially.
Whenever a copartnership, corporation, or association licensed as
a life agent, property broker-agent, or casualty broker-agent files
to add to any such license the name of a natural person to exercise
the agency powers thereunder, the business organization shall be
deemed to have made the appropriate declarations regarding the
natural person, as set forth in this section, as are required of an
insurer filing a notice of appointment on behalf of an applicant for
an original license.
Except as otherwise provided in Section 1704.5, each notice
of appointment or notice of termination of appointment filed pursuant
to this article shall be filed on forms prescribed by the
commissioner within 15 days of appointment or termination.
The commissioner in lieu of retaining in his or her files a
copy of the notices of appointment or notices of termination
described in Section 1707, if he or she has made entry of the facts
pertaining to the appointments or terminations or the statements,
including the cancellation, if any thereof, in some portion of his or
her official records, may at any time thereafter destroy the
documents. The commissioner's certification as to the content of such
an entry shall be competent evidence of the facts therein stated for
any purpose in any court or administrative action or proceeding and
shall be accepted in lieu of the actual documents.
(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, qualified
applicants who applied in proper form and requested an examination
date for a property, casualty, or life insurance license prior to
December 1, 1991, shall be provided the opportunity to qualify for
licensure under statutory licensure provisions in effect on December
31, 1991.
(b) The department may require the applicant to execute a sworn
statement subject to a penalty of perjury and denial of license
declaring that they meet the qualifications set forth in subdivision
(a). The department shall provide public notice as to the
availability of these tests and as to the procedure and requirements
necessary to qualify for the test. The tests shall be administered
within 90 days of enactment of this section.
As part of the report required under Section 12922, the
commissioner shall provide the following information for the previous
calendar year ending December 31 for five years after the operative
date of this section:
(a) The total number of applications filed for a fire and casualty
broker-agent license, a property broker-agent license, a casualty
broker-agent license, a personal lines broker-agent license, a
limited lines auto-only agent license, a life-only agent license, and
an accident and health agent license.
(b) The total number of licensees issued a fire and casualty
license, a property broker-agent license, a casualty broker-agent
license, a personal lines license, a limited lines automobile
license, a life-only license, and an accident and health license.
(c) The total number of licensees with both a life-only agent
license and an accident and health agent license.
(d) The total justified complaints against the licensees
enumerated in subdivision (b) annually for five years.
(e) At the end of five years following the issuance of auto-only
agent, life-only agent, and accident and health agent licenses, a
cumulative summary of the data required by this section compared to
the licenses issued for fire and casualty broker-agent, property
broker-agent, casualty broker-agent, personal lines broker-agent, and
life agent for the year immediately preceding the creation of this
section.