Ethics & the Insurance Agent

Upon completion of this course, agents will be able to understand the importance of ethics when dealing with clients. Agents will learn the standards and requirements they are supposed to uphold, and how to successfully implement these when dealing with both clients and insurance companies. This course will allow the agents to create both a personal and professional code of ethics which they can follow in each and every aspect of their business. This course includes an overview of a variety of topics related to state and federal laws, including unfair trade practices, false or misleading advertisements, and privacy protection acts. These and the many other topics addressed in the course will provide all agents with a firm understanding of what it means to use ethical decision making, and how it will help them be a better agent and person.

California State Requirements

Updated: 02/21/2012

Changes for 2011 highlighted in a CA press release found by clicking here

IMPORTANT: California will not be mailing out renewals or notifications, please read this official notice from the state!
(Click Here)

Continuing Education Hours

• Life agent or fire and casualty broker-agent: 25 hours annually.
• Personal lines broker-agent: 10 hours annually.
• Video explination: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j5MQWzvq8HU
• How to check how many units you need online: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLtv3cbXD8o

Course Subject Requirements

• Courses must be approved for lines of insurance for which license is held.
• Ethics Requirement: Life, Fire and Casualty agents are required to complete 4 hours of approved Ethics hours. Personal Lines agents are required to complete 2 hours of approved Ethics hours. The Ethics hours are to be included in the total number of hours required. Agents and brokers not completing the Ethics CE prior to the expiration date of their license will NOT be allowed to renew their license until this requirement has been met.
• Annuity Requirement: All California agents who sell annuities must complete an 8 hour state-approved Annuity Training course prior to selling annuities. In addition to the one-time 8-hour Annuity Training course, agents continuing to sell annuities must complete a 4-hour state-approved Annuity CE course each subsequent compliance period.
• Long-Term Care: Individuals who sell long-term care products in California must complete 8-hours of California LTC annually for the first four years, then eight hours biennially thereafter.
• California Partnership Long-Term Care: Individuals who sell California Partnership for Long-Term Care products must obtain eights hours of specific partnership LTC and eight hours of California-approved LTC credits before soliciting. Thereafter, eight hours in each type of LTC CE courses must be completed biennially. However, a new licensee must complete eight hours of California-approved LTC annually for the first four years of licensure, and eight hours in partnership LTC biennially. These courses apply toward the completion of the basic CE requirement and must be fulfilled in a state-approved classroom.
• 24 Hour Coverage Requirement: Life agents who wish to sell the combined Group Health and Workers Compensation plan known as "24 Hour Coverage" must complete a specific, California-approved, four-hour course before solicitation. This course will only need to be taken once, and the credits can be used to meet the basic CE requirement. Individuals not licensed as a life agent or who have not held a life agent license for more then a year are required to complete 15 hours of education related to life settlements and life settlements transactions, prior to operating as a life settlements broker.
• Flood Insurance Requirement: All California fire and casualty producers who sell federal flood insurance policies must complete a one-time 3 hour course relating to National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) training.
• Homeowners Valuation Insurance Requirement: All California fire and casualty broker-agents and personal line broker-agents who negotiate or sell homeowners' (HO) insurance will be required to complete a one-time 3-hour homeowners' insurance valuation training course.
• Limited Lines Automobile Insurance Producers: 20 CE hours, including 2 hours of ethics are required every 2 year license term.

License Term

• Life and Health, Property and Casualty, Limited Lines: the license term is the last day of the license issuance month every 2 years. For example, if you were initially licensed on June 3, 2009 your renewal date would be June 30, 2011.
• Personal Lines:
• Licensed before Jan 1, 2009 - the license term is every ODD year on December 31st. If a personal lines broker-agent has an additional license(s) with a different renewal date, then all licenses will renew with the same license term as that of the original license issued.
• Licensed after Jan 1, 2009 - the license term is the last day of the license issuance month every 2 years.
• Independent and Public Adjuster: the license term is every EVEN year on May 31st.
• Life Settlement Brokers
• For individuals not currently licensed as a life settlement broker and who do not hold a life agent license or have held the life agent license for less then one year, the license must be renewed on an annual basis. If the individual holds a life agent license, on the one year anniversary of the life agent license the life settlement broker becomes eligible for the two year life settlement notification.
• For individuals not currently licensed as a life settlement broker, but who are licensed as a life agent for at least a year will need to pay the life producer notification fee of $128 to become a life settlement broker, which is good for a two year period. The license will need to be renewed on the same date as the life agent license expires.
• Individuals licensed prior to July 2, 2010 as a life settlement broker who have also been licensed as a life agent for at least one year will be initially issued a two-year life producer notification of Brokering Life Settlements that corresponds with their life agent license. The life producer notification will need to be renewed on the same date as the life agent license expires.
• Individuals licensed prior to July 2, 2010 as a life settlement broker who do not hold a life agent license or who have held a life agent license less than one year will be initially issued a one-year life settlement broker license.  After one year they will either apply to renew the one-year life settlement broker license or if qualified, renew for a two-year life producer notification.

Continuing Education Compliance Date

All continuing education credits must be achieved by the date of the license renewal.

The license renewal date is the last day of the license issuance month, biennially. Personal lines renewal is 12/31 biennially.

Types of Courses Accepted for CE Credit

Independent self-study courses (except for partnership LTC credits & bail agent CE) and classroom study.

Final Exam

Self-study final exams are not required to be monitored, except for courses approved specifically to meet the "24 hour Coverage" requirement, which must be monitored by a disinterested third party (i.e., someone with no financial dependency on the student).

Carryover Requirements

Excess hours may be carried forward to the next year. Excess hours from an approved ethics, annuity or LTC course are carried over as general credit only.

Course Repetition

A course may not be taken for credit more than once within a 2-year license term. Within the first 4 years of selling LTC products, producers may only repeat an LTC course every 24 months from the original course completion date.

Exemptions

• Individuals who have held a life agent license for at least one year or who obtained a life settlement broker license prior to July 2, 2010 are exempt from the 15 hour life settlement broker training course requirement.  This does not include an exemption from the life agent CE requirement of 24 CE hours, including 3 hours of ethics.
• The producer holds a nonresident license and does NOT sell annuities, LTC, LTC partnership, or flood products.
• Nonresident adjusters
• Cargo Shipper's Agents.
• Agents who are 70 years or older and have held a California insurance license in good standing for 30 years or more. These agents must still meet the long-term care and CA Partnership long-term care requirement if they choose to solicit long-term care products. In order to be exempt from CE if you meet the above requirements, you must fax a written request for exemption to the DOI at: 916 327 6907 with your name, license number and a statement that you are over 70 with more than 30 continuous year in the business.
• The producer holds a life license and claims a funeral exemption (sells less than $15,000 of insurance).

Method To Certify Completion

You will be able to print your certificate of completion online once you have completed your exam. The course provider reports credits earned to the insurance department within one business day of course completion. The licensee keeps the original certificates of completion in his or her files for 5 years.

Nonresidents

• Exempt if licensee meets home state CE requirement with the exception on nonresidents selling annuities. CA annuities requirement must be completed. Resident state compliance will be verified on the PDB.
• Nonresidents are NOT exempt from LTC and California Partnership LTC education requirements if they choose to sell those products.

For Additional Information Please Contact

California Insurance Department
License Bureau

320 Capitol Mall
Sacramento, CA 95814-4309

Phone: (800) 967-9331

State Website: http://www.insurance.ca.gov/

Renew Your License Online

• Go to www.insurance.ca.gov/
• Click on "Quick Links" and select "Producer Licensing Online Services"
• Select "Free Application Online Renewal Service" and begin entering on your information

To Check the Status of Your CE Credits

*You will need to provide your name -OR- a CA insurance license number.*

• 1. Go to http://www.insurance.ca.gov/
• 2. Click, "Check License Status"
• 3. Select whether you want to searchby license number or by name.
• 4. If searching by license number, be aware that the leading character is the number zero, not the letter "O".
• 5. If searching by name, the format is "last first middle". Please note that putting commas into this field will result in an error.
• 6. Scroll to the bottom of the page once you have selected your file and click the "Continuing Education" button.

Course Format

System Requirements: Please note that Mozilla firefox 9 download here or Internet explorer 8 or higher: Download here 
are required to view our website when you wish to access the learning center. You should also note that taking courses over a wireless internet connection is not advised. When taking your exams you should try to be on a wired internet connection to your computer.

If your state requires monitored exams, you must have your monitor sign-in and follow the monitor instructions BEFORE you begin the exam.  See the State Information tab, Monitor tab and Help Center for more information.

How to Redeem Vouchers 

Optional PACE or CFP Credit

Many of our Insurance CE courses are also approved for CE credit for agents who hold professional designations such as CLU, ChFC, CFP. The type of CE credit and number of hours approved are listed above in the course description.