Escrow agents: asset requirements.

Existing law, the Escrow Law, requires people engaging in business as escrow agents to be organized as corporations for that purpose, as specified, and appropriately licensed by the Commissioner of Business Oversight. Existing law requires an escrow agent licensed on or after January 1, 1986, to maintain a tangible net worth of $50,000, including liquid assets of at least $25,000 in excess of current liabilities. Existing law requires an escrow agent licensed before January 1, 1986, to maintain a tangible net worth pursuant to a prescribed schedule, the amounts of which, in 1993, matched those required for escrow agents licensed on and after that date. Existing law provides criminal penalties for willful violations of the Escrow Law. This bill would delete the tangible net worth schedule for escrow agents licensed before January 1, 1986, as described above, and eliminate distinctions based on when an agent was licensed in this context. The bill would exclude a liability derived from an operating lease obligation from a licensee's current liabilities for purposes of establishing tangible net worth.