| 1 | The Insurance Committee recommends the following: |
| 2 |
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| 3 | Council/Committee Substitute |
| 4 | Remove the entire bill and insert: |
| 5 | A bill to be entitled |
| 6 | An act relating to insurance agents; amending s. 626.171, |
| 7 | F.S.; requiring the Department of Financial Services to |
| 8 | require certain examination centers to have fingerprinting |
| 9 | facilities; amending s. 626.211, F.S.; revising |
| 10 | circumstances under which the department must notify an |
| 11 | applicant about examinations; amending s. 626.221, F.S.; |
| 12 | expanding the authorized adjuster designations for |
| 13 | exemptions from adjuster license examinations; amending s. |
| 14 | 626.231, F.S.; revising examination eligibility |
| 15 | requirements to require a prelicensing course; deleting |
| 16 | certain examination eligibility requirements; amending s. |
| 17 | 626.261, F.S.; requiring the department to request |
| 18 | examinees to voluntarily report race and gender |
| 19 | information; requiring the department to provide certain |
| 20 | notice to examinees regarding the provision of race and |
| 21 | gender information; requiring the department to prepare, |
| 22 | publicly announce, and publish reports of examination |
| 23 | statistical information; providing report requirements; |
| 24 | providing an exception; requiring the department to retain |
| 25 | certain examination materials and information; requiring |
| 26 | the department to accommodate disabled examinees at |
| 27 | examinations; amending s. 626.291, F.S.; requiring the |
| 28 | department to issue a license for certain applicants |
| 29 | within a specified time period; providing an effective |
| 30 | date. |
| 31 |
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| 32 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 33 |
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| 34 | Section 1. Subsection (4) of section 626.171, Florida |
| 35 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 36 | 626.171 Application for license as an agent, customer |
| 37 | representative, adjuster, service representative, managing |
| 38 | general agent, or reinsurance intermediary.-- |
| 39 | (4) An application for a license as an agent, customer |
| 40 | representative, adjuster, service representative, managing |
| 41 | general agent, or reinsurance intermediary must be accompanied |
| 42 | by a set of the individual applicant's fingerprints, or, if the |
| 43 | applicant is not an individual, by a set of the fingerprints of |
| 44 | the sole proprietor, majority owner, partners, officers, and |
| 45 | directors, on a form adopted by rule of the department and |
| 46 | accompanied by the fingerprint processing fee set forth in s. |
| 47 | 624.501. Fingerprints shall be used to investigate the |
| 48 | applicant's qualifications pursuant to s. 626.201. The |
| 49 | Fingerprints shall be taken by a law enforcement agency or other |
| 50 | department-approved entity. The department shall require all |
| 51 | designated examination centers to have facilities at which to |
| 52 | take fingerprints at the time of an applicant's examination, and |
| 53 | fingerprints taken at such time shall be in lieu of the |
| 54 | applicant submitting fingerprints with the application. |
| 55 | Section 2. Subsection (2) of section 626.211, Florida |
| 56 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 57 | 626.211 Approval, disapproval of application.-- |
| 58 | (2) Upon approval of an applicant for license as agent, |
| 59 | customer representative, or adjuster who is subject to written |
| 60 | examination and who has not provided proof of passing such |
| 61 | examination, the department shall notify the applicant when and |
| 62 | where he or she may take the required examination. |
| 63 | Section 3. Paragraph (k) of subsection (2) of section |
| 64 | 626.221, Florida Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 65 | 626.221 Examination requirement; exemptions.-- |
| 66 | (2) However, no such examination shall be necessary in any |
| 67 | of the following cases: |
| 68 | (k) An applicant for license as an adjuster who has the |
| 69 | designation of Accredited Claims Adjuster (ACA) from a |
| 70 | regionally accredited postsecondary institution in this state, |
| 71 | or the designation of Professional Claims Adjuster (PCA) from |
| 72 | the Professional Career Institute, or Certified Claims Adjuster |
| 73 | (CCA) from the Association of Property and Casualty Claims |
| 74 | Professionals whose curriculum has been approved by the |
| 75 | department and whose curriculum includes comprehensive analysis |
| 76 | of basic property and casualty lines of insurance and testing at |
| 77 | least equal to that of standard department testing for the all- |
| 78 | lines adjuster license. The department shall adopt rules |
| 79 | establishing standards for the approval of curriculum. |
| 80 | Section 4. Section 626.231, Florida Statutes, is amended |
| 81 | to read: |
| 82 | 626.231 Eligibility for examination.--No person shall be |
| 83 | permitted to take an examination for license without having |
| 84 | first completed a prelicensing course as required by s. 626.7851 |
| 85 | until his or her application for the license has been approved |
| 86 | and the required fees have been received by the department or a |
| 87 | person designated by the department to administer the |
| 88 | examination. |
| 89 | Section 5. Subsections (5), (6), (7), and (8) are added to |
| 90 | section 626.261, Florida Statutes, to read: |
| 91 | 626.261 Conduct of examination.-- |
| 92 | (5) The department shall request each examinee to report |
| 93 | the following information on a voluntary basis on the answer |
| 94 | sheet or application form or by other appropriate means: |
| 95 | (a) Race or ethnicity (African American, Caucasian, |
| 96 | American Indian, Asian, Hispanic, or other). |
| 97 | (b) Gender (male or female). |
| 98 |
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| 99 | The department shall advise all examinees that they are not |
| 100 | required to provide this information, that they will not be |
| 101 | penalized for not providing this information, and that the |
| 102 | department will use the information provided exclusively for |
| 103 | research and statistical purposes and to improve the quality and |
| 104 | fairness of the examinations. |
| 105 | (6) No later than May 1 of each year, the department shall |
| 106 | prepare, publicly announce, and publish an examination report of |
| 107 | summary statistical information relating to each examination |
| 108 | administered during the preceding calendar year. Each |
| 109 | examination report shall show, with respect to each examination, |
| 110 | for all examinees combined, and separately by race or ethnicity, |
| 111 | by gender, and by race or ethnicity within gender: |
| 112 | (a) The number of examinees. |
| 113 | (b) The percentage and number of examinees who passed each |
| 114 | part. |
| 115 | (c) The percentage and number of examinees who passed all |
| 116 | parts. |
| 117 | (d) The mean scaled scores on each part. |
| 118 | (e) The standard deviation of scaled scores on each part. |
| 119 |
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| 120 | No later than May 1 of each year, the department shall prepare |
| 121 | and make available on request an item report of summary |
| 122 | statistical information relating to each operational item on |
| 123 | each test form administered during the preceding calendar year. |
| 124 | The item report shall show the correct-answer rates and |
| 125 | correlations for each operational item for all examinees |
| 126 | combined, and separately for African-American examinees, |
| 127 | Caucasian examinees, American-Indian examinees, Asian examinees, |
| 128 | Hispanic examinees, and other examinees. The department is not |
| 129 | required to report separate statistical information for any |
| 130 | group or subgroup comprising fewer than 50 examinees. |
| 131 | (7) The department shall maintain, for a period of 3 years |
| 132 | after being prepared or used, all registration forms, test |
| 133 | forms, answer sheets, operational items and pretest items, item |
| 134 | analyses, and other statistical analyses relating to the |
| 135 | examinations. |
| 136 | (8) In administering the examinations, the department |
| 137 | shall make such accommodations for disabled examinees as are |
| 138 | reasonably warranted by the particular disability involved, |
| 139 | including the provision of additional time if necessary to |
| 140 | complete an examination or special assistance in taking an |
| 141 | examination. |
| 142 | Section 6. Subsection (1) of section 626.291, Florida |
| 143 | Statutes, is amended to read: |
| 144 | 626.291 Denial, issuance of license.-- |
| 145 | (1) Within 30 days after the applicant has completed any |
| 146 | examination required under s. 626.221, the department or its |
| 147 | designee shall provide a score report; and, if it finds that the |
| 148 | applicant has received a passing grade, the department shall |
| 149 | within such period notify the applicant and issue and transmit |
| 150 | the license to which such examination related. If it finds that |
| 151 | the applicant did not make a passing grade on the examination |
| 152 | for a particular license, the department or its designee shall |
| 153 | within this period provide notice to the applicant to that |
| 154 | effect and of its denial of the license. For those applicants |
| 155 | who have completed the examination prior to submitting the |
| 156 | license application, the department shall issue the license |
| 157 | applied for within 15 days after the department has approved the |
| 158 | application. |
| 159 | Section 7. This act shall take effect July 1, 2006. |