Insurance omnibus.

(1) Existing law provides that the hiring of real property for a term not specified by the parties is deemed to be renewed at the end of the term unless written notice of termination is given. Existing law requires the owner of a residential dwelling to give notice at least 30 days prior to the proposed date of termination if the owner has contracted to sell the dwelling or unit to a bona fide purchaser for value, has established an escrow with a licensed escrow agent or a licensed real estate broker, and other specified criteria are met. This bill would additionally permit the escrow to be established with a title insurer or an underwritten title company for purposes of that provision. (2) Existing law regulates mortgage insurance and defines it as including guaranteeing of the payment of the principal, interest, and other sums agreed to be paid under the terms of any note or bond secured by mortgage, or other sums secured under the terms of the mortgage, in its entirety, or of any undivided or other partial interest in the mortgage, or in a group of mortgages, and the guaranteeing or insuring, directly or indirectly, against loss thereon. This bill would prohibit mortgage insurance from being an insurance product that may be offered in this state. (3) Existing law requires the Insurance Commissioner to publish notices of insurer liquidation in a newspaper of general circulation, published in the county in which the proceeding is pending, and in the Counties of Alameda, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, and Santa Clara, not less than once a week for 4 successive weeks. This bill would delete the requirement of publication in certain cities and counties for the required period of time, and instead would require only publication in geographic areas pertinent to the liquidation and that the publication reference a source, either the liquidated company's or the liquidator's Internet Web site, where ongoing information for creditors would be provided. Existing law requires the commissioner to notify the Chair of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee by letter, whenever he or she appoints or employs a special deputy commissioner, clerk, or assistant to the Conservation and Liquidation Office. This bill would instead require the commissioner only to report the appointment or employment of special deputy commissioners or executive officers. Existing law authorizes the commissioner to apply by verified application for an order for the liquidation of a domestic corporation in the insurance business. This bill would incorporate the federal Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 by authorizing the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to stand in the place of the commissioner and file a verified application in state court to place the insurer into liquidation under the laws and requirements of the state. (4) Existing law authorizes the commissioner to grant authority to transact variable contracts to a person, or a natural person named on a license of an organization licensed, as a life agent which is appointed by an admitted insurer which is required to register itself or to register a separate account or fund with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, or to register its variable policies or contracts with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and has complied with that requirement. This bill would clarify that the commissioner is authorized to grant authority to transact variable contracts to a nonresident, who is not a licensed life agent in California, as long as the nonresident is licensed for both life and variable contract authority in his or her resident state. The bill would also impose a $64 fee on applications, renewals, or changes for a nonresident variable contract authority license. The bill would declare the fee is reasonable and reflects the true costs incurred by the agency in providing those services. (5) Existing law authorizes the commissioner to issue to eligible persons a certificate of convenience, a temporary permit issued as a matter of convenience to allow the transaction of insurance without a permanent license, to transact certain kinds of insurance, including, but not limited to, transacting industrial life and industrial disability insurance, known as certificates of convenience pending examination. Existing law requires every insurer to have an approved training program on file with the commissioner or have filed a blanket authorization to certify enrollment in an approved course of instruction before appointing any certificate of convenience holder. This bill would discontinue certificates of convenience pending examination, delete the training program and blanket authorization to certify enrollment requirement, and make conforming changes. (6) Existing law generally prohibits a surplus linebroker from placing any coverage with a nonadmitted insurer for a home state insured unless the insurer is domiciled in Mexico under specified conditions or meets specified licensing and capital requirements. Existing law prohibits the commissioner from recognizing that a nonadmitted insurer is eligible pursuant to those requirements, unless the insurer has submitted for filing certain information, including a certificate of capital and surplus and a certified copy of the insurer's license issued by the insurer's domiciliary jurisdiction. This bill would delete the provision prohibiting the commissioner from recognizing a nonadmitted insurer unless the insurer submits for filing the information described above. (7) Existing law requires an applicant for a bail agent license, in order to be eligible to take the examination, to have completed not less than 12 hours of classroom education in subjects pertinent to the duties and responsibilities of a bail licensee. Existing law requires the commissioner to appoint a curriculum board consisting of representatives of insurance agents, brokers, and life agents trade associations and representatives of insurance companies and consumer groups to develop the prelicensing and continuing education curriculum for property broker-agents and casualty broker-agents. This bill would increase the bail agent license exam eligibility qualification to a minimum of 20 hours of specified classroom education. The bill would expand the curriculum board to include representatives of bail agents and insurance adjusters and expand the curriculum being developed to include courses of study for bail agents and insurance adjusters. (8) Existing law requires any natural person applying for a license to act as a surplus line broker to prove his or her competency by showing he or she holds an existing license to act as a property broker-agent and casualty broker-agent. This bill would allow a natural person, who is not a resident of California, to prove his or her competency by showing that he or she holds an existing license for property and casualty in his or her resident state. (9) Existing law requires that on or before May 1 of each year, insurers, engaged in writing child care liability insurance coverage, submit a report to the commissioner of their operations regarding child care liability claims experience for the preceding calendar year ending on December 31 on a form furnished by the commissioner. The commissioner is required to annually report to the Governor, Legislature, and to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Insurance regarding certain court actions, such as medical malpractice, and child care liability claims. This bill would delete the requirement that the insurer child care liability claims experience report for the preceding calendar year ending on December 31 be submitted to the commissioner on or before May 1 of each year, and would instead require that the report for the preceding calendar year be submitted at the request of the commissioner, but not more than annually, on a form prescribed by the commissioner. The bill would also delete the commissioner's reports to the Governor, Legislature, and to the Assembly and Senate Committees on Insurance described above. (10) Existing law establishes an advisory committee on automobile insurance fraud and economic automobile theft prevention, investigation, and prosecution within the Fraud Division of the Department of Insurance. This bill would abolish that committee. (11) Existing law requires the department to develop and implement a coordinated approach to gather, review, and analyze the archives of insurers and other archives and records to provide for research and investigation into insurance policies, unpaid insurance claims, and related matters of victims of the Holocaust or of the Nazi-controlled German government or its allies, and the beneficiaries and heirs of those victims, and for losses arising from the activities of the Nazi-controlled German government or its allies for insurance policies issued before and during World War II by insurers who have affiliates or subsidiaries authorized to do business in California. Existing law also requires the department to play an independent role in representing the interests of Holocaust survivors where necessary. Under existing law, the department is required to submit to the Governor, the Legislature, and the insurance and budget committees of the Legislature a report on its progress in these matters. This bill would eliminate this reporting requirement. (12) Existing law requires insurance adjusters to be licensed by the department. Any person who violates any provision regarding the regulation of insurance adjusters is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would establish a category of insurance adjuster license to be known as the crop insurance adjuster license, subject to the same rules and regulations as an insurance adjuster, except where otherwise specified. A person would be prohibited from acting as a crop insurance adjuster without a license. An applicant for a crop insurance adjuster license would be subject to the same requirements as applicable to obtaining an insurance adjuster license, except the examination, and would be required to provide evidence that he or she has satisfactorily completed the loss adjustment training curriculum and competency testing required by the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation Standard Reinsurance Agreement. Because this bill would expand the scope of a crime, it would create a state-mandated local program. (13) Existing law expresses the intent of the Legislature that the commissioner review and analyze the financial conditions, underwriting practices, and rate structure of the State Compensation Insurance Fund and report to the Legislature and the Governor on the potential of reducing rates by July 1 each year. This bill would delete this provision. (14) This bill would incorporate additional changes in Section 1946.1 of the Civil Code, proposed by AB 2521, that would become operative only if AB 2521 and this bill are both chaptered and become effective on or before January 1, 2013, and this bill is chaptered last. (15) The bill would also make technical, conforming, and related changes and delete obsolete provisions. (16) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.