2007 California Insurance Code Article 9. Issuance Of Licenses

CA Codes (ins:1702-1707.7)

1702.  All licenses issued pursuant to this chapter shall be issued
to the holder thereof.



1703.  Every applicant for an original license to act as a fire and
casualty broker-agent, personal lines broker-agent, life agent, life
analyst, surplus line broker, special lines surplus line broker,
motor club agent, or bail agent or bail solicitor or bail permittee
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.


1704.  (a) Life agents, travel agents, and fire and casualty
insurance agents 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 fire and casualty broker-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 or fire and casualty
broker-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 or fire and casualty
broker-agent's liability for acts of the appointed licensee. No
notice of appointment of a life agent, fire and casualty
broker-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 fire and casualty broker-agent, or by the appointed life
agent, fire and 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, such certificate shall be
canceled and shall be returned by its lawful custodian to the
commissioner.
   (d) A fire and casualty broker-agent appointing an insurance
solicitor pursuant to this section, if a natural person, must be the
holder of a permanent license to act as a fire and casualty
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 fire and casualty broker-agent is an organization, it must 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 (n) of Section 1751.
   (f) A notice of appointment appointing a solicitor may be filed by
a second or subsequent fire and casualty broker-agent. The
broker-agent seeking to appoint the solicitor shall enter into an
agreement with all other fire 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 fire and
casualty broker-agent's behalf the solicitor is working when dealing
with individuals who are customers of none of the fire 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 fire 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.




1704.5.  (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.



1705.  An insurer, or employing fire and 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) of Part 2 of
Division 1, 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, or fire and casualty broker-agent, by filing a notice
of appointment on behalf of an applicant for an original license to
act as a life agent, fire and 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) of this chapter, 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's or  a fire and casualty
broker-agent's 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 or as a fire and 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.



1707.  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.




1707.5.  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.




1707.51.  (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, qualified
applicants who applied in proper form and requested an examination
date for a fire and 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.



1707.7.  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 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 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, personal
lines broker-agent, and life agent for the year immediately preceding
the creation of this section.