SACRAMENTO, CA, Jan. 26, 2017 —The California Department of Insurance is asking every broker-agent to voluntarily tell CDI what languages other than English they speak in order to help the Department add a new “Insurance Agent Language Locater” search feature to its website.

The Department hopes to augment its website within the next few months by permitting consumers to search for broker-agents in their geographic area who speak languages other than English—but sufficient data on non-English-speaking licensees is required to populate the website so that the search function is useful.

Here is the CDI Notice, dated Jan. 18. 

Here is a link licensees can use to update their license information with CDI to include non-English capability; it appears in the same window of the website that producers would use to report a change in address.

CDI will likely add “disclaimers” to the search function, including that it is not “endorsing” particular licensees, or making any representations about the fluency of particular individuals.  But officials at CDI have shared their belief that, when activated, the search feature will benefit producers as much as consumers.

California law does not require licensees to transact insurance in languages other than English, and the request from the Commissioner is completely voluntary. 

CDI broker fee regulations, promulgated many years ago, include a provision that requires brokers who charge fees in personal lines to provide translations of mandatory fee agreements, and of the CDI pamphlets on the applicable personal lines policies, in “… any […] language principally used by the broker to advertise, solicit or negotiate the sale and purchase of insurance.”