News & Updates
The following information was sent from California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara regarding a new requirement for a one hour of study on insurance fraud as part of the prelicensing education for new applicants and continuing education requirements for licensed agents and brokers. Please review the entire message to ensure you satisfy the new education requirements in effect as of March 1, 2023.
NOTICE
TO: California Resident Agents, Brokers, and Other Interested Parties
CC: Prelicensing and Continuing Education Providers
FROM: Curriculum and Officer Review Bureau, Licensing Services Division
DATE: March 10, 2023
SUBJECT: New Required Ethics One-Hour Study on Insurance Fraud
The California Department of Insurance hereby notifies you that sections 1749, 1749.3, 1749.31, 1749.32, and 1749.33 of the California Insurance Code were amended to require licensed California resident agents and brokers and applicants for a California resident agent-broker license to complete “one hour of study on insurance fraud” as a part of, and not in addition to, their ethics training requirement. (Senate Bill 1242 [Senate Committee on Insurance, Chapter 424, Statutes of 2022])
Continuing Education Requirements for Resident License Renewal
Current law requires licensed California resident agents and brokers to complete 24 hours of continuing education (CE), of which three hours shall be in ethics, prior to renewal of their license. Effective March 1, 2023, the three-hour ethics training that licensed California resident agents and brokers are required to complete for renewal must include the Department’s one hour of study on Agents and Brokers Anti-Fraud Training.
If you have recently completed your CE, which includes the three-hours of ethics training, you should ask your education provider if the three-hour ethics training course you took included the Department’s one-hour anti-fraud training.
If the ethics course taken did not include the Department’s one-hour anti-fraud training, you are still required to complete this anti-fraud course. You can take the course for free on the Department’s website at Agents and Brokers Anti-Fraud Training. After completing the course, you must download the Certificate of Attendance (linked below the training screen) and submit the Certificate by email to SIU-Annualreport@insurance.ca.gov in order to meet this new ethics requirement.
Prelicensing Education Requirements for Resident License Applicants
Effective March 1, 2023, if you are applying for a California resident agent-broker license, you are required to complete the 12-hour ethics and California Insurance Code prelicensing education course, which must include the Department’s one-hour study on Agents and Brokers Anti-Fraud Training. If you have already completed your prelicensing education requirements prior to this Notice, you should ask your education provider if the 12-hour prelicensing course you completed included the Department’s one-hour anti-fraud training.
If the 12-hour prelicensing course did not include the Department’s one-hour anti-fraud training, you are still required to complete this anti-fraud course. You can take the course for free on the Department’s website at Agents and Brokers Anti-Fraud Training. After completing the course, you must download the Certificate of Attendance (linked below the training screen) and submit the Certificate by email to SIU-Annualreport@insurance.ca.gov in order to meet this ethics requirement.
Important Notes:
Direct questions regarding this Notice to the Department’s Curriculum Review Section by phone at (916) 492- 3064 or by email at CDI.Education@insurance.ca.gov.