Insurance: licenses: fraud prevention.

(1) Existing law provides that an insurance broker is a person who, for compensation and on behalf of another person, transacts insurance but prohibits an insurance broker from transacting life, disability, or health insurance. This bill would remove the prohibition on transacting disability and health insurance. (2) Existing law authorizes a life licensee to act as a life agent and to hold certain types of insurance licenses, including life-only and accident and health. This bill would remove the restriction that a life licensee only be a life agent, and would authorize a life licensee transacting accident and health insurance to be an agent, or a broker, or both. (3) Existing law authorizes the Insurance Commissioner to declare any region of the state as an auto insurance fraud crisis area upon making a finding that auto insurance fraud is endemic to the area, as specified. This bill would require the commissioner to provide a copy of the declaration concerning a region's designation as a fraud crisis area to the respective chairs of the Senate and Assembly standing committees with primary jurisdiction over matters of public policy involving insurance, as specified. (4) This bill would make conforming changes.