March 28, 2011
Monday, March 28th, 2011Virginia:
The Bureau of Insurance (Bureau) will mail company appointment invoices on or about April 1, 2011, for producer appointments added during the quarter ending March 31, 2011. Remittances are due no later than May 10, 2011, and checks must be made payable to State Corporation Commission/LAP for the exact amount billed. Do not submit the payments to the Bureau. Payments must be submitted to the Lockbox address on the invoice, Insurance 1, P.O. Box 758964, Baltimore MD 21275-8964 and the bottom portion of the invoice must be included with the remittance. Failure to include the bottom portion of the invoice or payment of the incorrect amount will reject and could cause a late penalty fee to be assessed. The Bureau does not mail a copy of the original invoice as first and second “courtesy reminders.
Maryland:
The Maryland Insurance Administration will begin using State Based Systems (SBS) effective April 11, 2011. With the SBS implementation the Administration will take the opportunity to implement several NAIC uniformity initiatives as well as the opportunity to streamline many of their processes. For more information on changes affecting individual and business entity licensing, visit the Maryland DOI website and click on the Producer tab.
California:
The California Department of Insurance (CDI) received several inquiries from affected licensees and insurers wanting to know who would need the accident and health agent license and also voicing concerns that there wasn’t enough time prior to January 1, 2011 for all of those individuals to obtain the accident and health agent license. As a result, the previous Commissioner granted a six-month extension to fire and casualty broker-agents who were licensed prior to December 31, 2010 to meet the requirement. Specifically, fire and casualty broker-agents licensed prior to December 31, 2010 have until June 30, 2011 to obtain the accident and health agent license to continue to transact accident and health insurance. The extension applied to both individuals and business entities as well as to both California residents and non-residents. However, individuals and business entities who were not licensed as of January 1, 2011 as either an accident and health agent or a fire and casualty-broker agent must obtain the accident and health agent license to be able to transact accident and health insurance.