Article 16. Variable Contract Agents of California Insurance Code >> Division 1. >> Part 2. >> Chapter 5. >> Article 16.

(a) For the purpose of making provision for the issuance of policies or contracts authorized by Article 5 (commencing with Section 10506) of Chapter 5 of Part 2 of Division 2, the commissioner may grant authority to transact variable contracts to a person or a natural person named on a license of an organization licensed as a life agent that is appointed by an admitted insurer that is required to register itself or to register a separate account or fund with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission under the Federal Investment Company Act of 1940, or to register its variable policies or contracts with the Securities and Exchange Commission under the Federal Securities Act of 1933, and has complied with that requirement. The commissioner may grant variable contract authority to a person who is not a resident of California and is not a licensed life agent in California provided that the person is licensed for both life and variable contract authority in his or her resident state.
  (b) No person shall act as an agent of the insurer in the transaction of the policies or contracts unless he or she holds a valid authority under this article.

Any authority granted pursuant to the provisions of this article shall be effective only while a permanent underlying life agent's license and registration in accordance with the rules of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority remains in full force and effect. The provisions of subdivision (b) of Section 1704 relating to the inactivation and reactivation of the underlying life agent's license, and the renewal thereof, shall apply to any authority issued pursuant to this article, except that references to agency appointments and terminations shall relate only to the underlying life agent's license. The authority may be revoked, suspended, or otherwise affected for the same reasons and by the same procedures as a life agent's license.

The commissioner shall not grant authority to transact variable contracts unless the life agent or applicant furnishes proof that he or she is registered to sell securities in California in accordance with the rules of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. Any authority granted to a life agent to transact variable contracts shall immediately terminate upon the life agent no longer being registered to sell securities in accordance with the rules of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority.

The commissioner may, pursuant to Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 11371), Part 1, Division 3, Title 2 of the Government Code, adopt reasonable rules and regulations necessary for the convenient administration of this article.