Today is the last day of the 2015-16 California Legislative Session.  Reflecting back over the many years in which IIABCal has represented independent insurance agents and brokers in California, the political landscape for producers would look quite different if IIABCal were not engaged in the legislative process. Here's a quick "Top Ten" list:

1. Producers would be under a mandate to make full disclosure of commissions and anything else of value paid for the placement of insurance coverage;
2. Commissions paid to producers for the placement of workers’ compensation insurance would be limited to 5%;
3. Producers would be prohibited from sharing DMV records with their an insurer for purposes of underwriting or with than employer for purposes of determining eligibility for employment;
4. Producers would have no access to the State Compensation Insurance Fund;
5. Producer licensing and enforcement actions initiated by the Department of Insurance would be heard before an ALJ employed by the CDI;
6. Producers would be mandated to provide service to customers wanting to place coverage with the Californina FAIR Plan or CAARP;
7. There would be very few brokers as most producers would be deemed agents by the CDI and prohibited from charging fees;
8. Convinced then California Insurance Commissioner John Garamendi to change the Prop 103 "efficiency standards" so that the independent agency delivery system would not be unfairly disadvantaged;
9. Markets would be restricted for many commercial products as ISO would not have the authority to produce pure loss costs for use by insurers;
10. The California workers’ compensation market would be in catastrophic shape, opening the door to radical reforms that could easily have restricted the ability of broker-agents to effectively serve their clients.  By working with broad-based coalitions, IIABCal played a major role in winning enactment of significant comp reform legislation.

While there may not have been very many bills directly impacting insurance agents and brokers this session, it certainly does not mean there won’t be threats on the horizon for next year.  It only takes one natural disaster, or one bad actor, to spark a legislative proposal that threatens to harm the insurance producer market. 

IIABCal is ready for the 2016-17 session.

John Norwood
IIABCal Lobbyist
Norwood & Associates