AB 943: Insurance agents: prelicensing education.

Existing law requires the Department of Insurance to require all new applicants for license as a property broker-agent, casualty broker-agent, limited lines automobile insurance agent, personal lines broker-agent, life agent, or accident and health or sickness agent to meet specified prelicensing education standards that include 20 hours of prelicensing study as a prerequisite to qualification for a license. Existing law also requires 12 hours of study on ethics in addition to the 20 hours of prelicensing study. Existing law requires the curriculum for satisfying this requirement to be approved by the curriculum board and submitted to the Insurance Commissioner for final approval. Existing law requires the commissioner to charge a specified fee for filing an application for certification, and to renew certification, of the prelicensing education course mentioned above.

This bill would eliminate the requirement that all new applicants must meet the 20 hours of prelicensing study, and would require a fee associated with the 12-hour ethics course certification. The bill would also make conforming changes.

This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1757.2 of the Insurance Code proposed by AB 487 to be operative only if this bill and AB 487 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.