Insurance agents: prelicensing education.

Section 9.5 (amending Insurance Code Section 1757.2): The exemption for cargo shipper's agents changed from being exempt from 'the prelicensing and continuing education requirements' to being exempt only from 'the continuing education requirements.' This removes the explicit prelicensing education exemption, which is a conforming change given that the bill eliminates the 20-hour prelicensing study requirement while retaining the 12-hour ethics course.

Formatting changes throughout: removal of line numbers, change in page numbering (from 95 to 94), addition of enrolled bill headers including 'Passed the Assembly September 13, 2025' and 'Passed the Senate September 11, 2025,' addition of governor receipt and approval blocks, and removal of prior amendment history dates.

The bill header changed from the enrolled format (showing Assembly and Senate passage dates with clerk signatures) to the chaptered format showing 'STATE OF CALIFORNIA AUTHENTICATED ELECTRONIC LEGAL MATERIAL,' Chapter 566, and the Governor's approval date of October 10, 2025.

Page numbering changed from 'AB 943' with page numbers starting at 94 to 'Ch. 566' with page numbers starting at 93, reflecting the standard chaptered bill pagination.

New Section 9.5 amends Insurance Code Section 1757.2 to exempt cargo shipper's agents from both prelicensing AND continuing education requirements. The prior version (Section 9) only exempted them from continuing education. This means cargo shipper's agents no longer need to complete the 12-hour ethics course before obtaining their license.

New Section 11 adds a coordination clause with AB 487. If both bills are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2026, and this bill is enacted after AB 487, then the new Section 9.5 becomes operative and the original Section 9 does not. This prevents conflicting amendments to the same code section.

The legislative digest was corrected to state that the bill 'would require a fee associated with the 12-hour ethics course certification' rather than the prior garbled language suggesting elimination of fees. The actual fee amounts in Section 1751.1 ($75 initial, $37 renewal for ethics courses) remain unchanged.

Removed the requirement in Section 1625 that property broker-agent, casualty broker-agent, and personal lines agent applicants must complete prelicensing education as specified in Section 1749. Applicants now only need to submit an application and pass a qualifying exam.

In Section 1661, removed the requirement that the commissioner ensure prelicensing education standards are met for natural persons named by organizations to exercise agency or brokerage powers. Only the qualifying examination requirement remains.

Eliminated two fee categories in Section 1751.1: the $75 fee for initial certification of a prelicensing education course and the $37 fee for renewal of that certification. Remaining fees ($75/$37 for provider certification, $37/$14 for continuing education course certification) are renumbered.

Throughout Sections 1749.1, 1749.33, 1751.1, 1757.2, and 12815, replaced references to 'prelicensing education' with the more specific term '12-hour ethics course,' narrowing the scope of what is required and regulated.

In Section 1757.2 (cargo shipper's agent limited license) and Section 12815(a)(1) (vehicle service contract provider license), changed exemptions from covering both 'prelicensing and continuing education requirements' to only 'continuing education requirements,' since prelicensing education is no longer a separate category.

New subdivisions (c) and (d) added to Section 1751.1 establishing a $75 initial certification fee and $37 renewal fee specifically for 12-hour ethics courses under Section 1749, separate from the existing continuing education course fees

Existing continuing education course fees in Section 1751.1 renumbered from subdivisions (c) and (d) to (e) and (f) to accommodate the new ethics course fee provisions

Legislative counsel's digest updated to explicitly state that existing law requires 12 hours of ethics study in addition to the 20 hours of prelicensing study, and clarifies that the bill eliminates the fee associated with the 12-hour ethics course certification

The bill expanded from amending 3 sections (32, 1626, 1749) to amending 10 sections (32, 1625.55, 1626, 1661, 1749, 1749.1, 1749.33, 1751.1, 1757.2, 12815), broadening its reach across the insurance licensing framework.

The amended bill now explicitly eliminates the fee associated with prelicensing education courses, in addition to eliminating the 20-hour study requirement itself.

Section 1751.1 was added establishing certification fees: $75 for initial provider certification, $75 for renewal, $75 for prelicensing course certification, $37 for prelicensing course renewal, $37 for continuing education course certification, and $14 for continuing education course renewal.

Section 1757.2 was added to exempt cargo shipper's agents from both qualifying examinations and prelicensing/continuing education requirements.

Section 12815 was added to exempt vehicle service contract providers from prelicensing/continuing education requirements and qualifying exams, while setting specific license fees of $4,939 (initial) and $847 (renewal).

Section 1749.1 was added, establishing the curriculum board's composition, its authority to develop curricula and provider standards, and enforcement powers including rescinding course approval, imposing fines and penalties (capped at Section 1748 amounts), and monetary penalties for minor noncompliance such as late roster submissions.

Section 1625.55 was added defining limited lines automobile insurance agents and requiring them to complete prelicensing education under Section 1749 and pass a qualifying examination.

Section 1661 was added requiring organizations to ensure that natural persons named to exercise agency powers meet prelicensing education standards and pass qualifying examinations.

Section 1749 was substantially simplified: all six separate 20-hour prelicensing study requirements (one per license type) were removed, the personal lines agent cross-licensing provision was deleted, and the section was restructured to contain only the 12-hour ethics requirement, nonresident provisions, non-classroom course review standards, and certificate expiration rules.

References to 'subdivision (d) of Section 1749' for 24-hour care coverage authorization were removed from Sections 32 and 1626, leaving only the reference to Section 1749.33, reflecting the reorganization of that requirement into its own section.