West News California Assembly Passes Agent-Broker Bill
The California Assembly passed a bill that would help to clarify when an insurance professional is acting in the capacity of a broker versus an agent. The Assembly voted in favor of AB 2956 by a margin of 60-6. The measure now is in the Senate Rules Committee waiting to be assigned to the Senate Insurance Committee.
AB 2956 will clarify the duties of an agent versus those of a broker.
The bill would provide that an insurance agent is a person who transacts insurance other than life, disability or health insurance
on behalf of an admitted insurance company. The bill "would establish a rebuttable presumption, subject to exception, that a person is acting as an insurance broker if the application shows that the person is acting as an insurance broker and is licensed to act as an insurance broker in the state in which the application is submitted. The bill would specify the grounds for rebutting the presumption," the bill text states.
The Alliance of Insurance Agents and Brokers, Insurance Brokers and Agents of the West, and Western Insurance Agents Association support the bill.
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