Bill Text: CA SB317 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

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Bill Title: Insurance brokers and agents.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Failed) 2024-02-01 - Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [SB317 Detail]

Download: California-2023-SB317-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Senate  March 21, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 317

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Introduced by Senator Nguyen

February 06, 2023

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An act to amend Section 1704 1704.5 of the Insurance Code, relating to insurance.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 317, as amended, Nguyen. Insurance brokers and agents.

Existing law  generally regulates insurance and creates the Department of Insurance, headed by the Insurance Commissioner. Existing law authorizes a licensed life agent to 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 to transmit an application for insurance to that insurer. Under existing law, if a policy is issued under that application, the insurer authorized the agent to act on its behalf and is responsible for all actions of the agent relating to the policy and application, as if the agent had been duly appointed by the insurer. Existing law requires an insurer to give notice to the Insurance Commissioner of the appointment of the life agent as the insurer’s agent within 14 days after the agent submits an application for insurance for which the insurer issues a policy.

This bill would extend the deadline by which an insurer is required to provide notice of that appointment to the commissioner to 15 days.

Existing law, among other things, prohibits a person acting as a licensee from acting as an agent of an insurer, unless the insurer has filed a notice of appointment with the Insurance Commissioner, as specified. Existing law also requires that specified agents acting in the capacity of an insurance solicitor have filed with the commissioner on their behalf a notice of appointment, as specified. Existing law requires that each appointment, by its terms, continue in force until the occurrence of a specified event.

This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those provisions.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 Section 1704.5 of the Insurance Code is amended to read:

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 15 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.

SECTION 1.Section 1704 of the Insurance Code is amended to read:

1704.

(a)A 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 their 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.