California Insurance Code GENERAL PROVISIONS

• Section 1.
  This act shall be known as the Insurance Code.(Enacted by Stats. 1935, Ch. 145.)
• Section 2.
  The provisions of this code in so far as they are substantially the same as existing statutory provisions relating to the same subject matter shall...
• Section 3.
  All persons who, at the time this code goes into effect, hold office under any of the acts repealed by this code, which offices are...
• Section 4.
  No action or proceeding commenced before this code takes effect, and no right accrued, is affected by the provisions of this code, but all procedure...
• Section 5.
  Unless the context otherwise requires, the general provisions hereinafter set forth shall govern the construction of this code.(Enacted by Stats. 1935, Ch. 145.)
• Section 6.
  Division, part, chapter, article, and section headings contained herein shall not be deemed to govern, limit, modify or in any manner affect the scope, meaning,...
• Section 7.
  Whenever, by the provisions of this code, a power is granted to a public officer or a duty imposed upon such an officer, the power...
• Section 8.
  Writing includes any form of recorded message capable of comprehension by ordinary visual means. Whenever any notice, report, statement or record is required or authorized...
• Section 9.
  Whenever any reference is made to any portion of this code or of any other law of this State, such reference shall apply to all...
• Section 10.
  “Section” means a section of this code unless some other statute is specifically mentioned and “subdivision” or “subsection” means a subdivision or subsection of the...
• Section 11.
  The present tense includes the past and future tenses; and the future, the present.(Enacted by Stats. 1935, Ch. 145.)
• Section 12.
  The masculine gender includes the feminine and neuter.(Enacted by Stats. 1935, Ch. 145.)
• Section 12.2.
  “Spouse” includes “registered domestic partner,” as required by Section 297.5 of the Family Code.(Added by Stats. 2016, Ch. 50, Sec. 56. (SB 1005) Effective January...
• Section 13.
  The singular number includes the plural, and the plural the singular.(Enacted by Stats. 1935, Ch. 145.)
• Section 14.
  “County” includes “city and county.”(Enacted by Stats. 1935, Ch. 145.)
• Section 15.
  “City” includes “city and county.”(Enacted by Stats. 1935, Ch. 145.)
• Section 16.
  As used in this code the word “shall” is mandatory and the word “may” is permissive, unless otherwise apparent from the context.(Enacted by Stats. 1935,...
• Section 17.
  “Oath” includes affirmation.(Enacted by Stats. 1935, Ch. 145.)
• Section 18.
  “Signature” or “subscription” includes mark when the signer or subscriber can not write, such signer’s or subscriber’s name being written near the mark by a...
• Section 19.
  “Person” means any person, association, organization, partnership, business trust, limited liability company, or corporation.(Amended by Stats. 1994, Ch. 1010, Sec. 172. Effective January 1, 1995.)
• Section 20.
  “Commissioner” means the Insurance Commissioner of this State.(Enacted by Stats. 1935, Ch. 145.)
• Section 20.5.
  Whenever in this code the terms “State Industrial Accident Commission” or “Industrial Accident Commission” or “commission,” relating to the said “State Industrial Accident Commission” or...
• Section 21.
  “Division,” and “department,” in reference to the government of this state, mean the Department of Insurance of this state.(Amended by Stats. 1990, Ch. 1239, Sec.
• Section 21.5.
  (a) “Administrative law bureau” or “administrative hearing bureau” means the unit within the Department of Insurance that provides administrative hearings.(b) An administrative law judge appointed by the...
• Section 22.
  Insurance is a contract whereby one undertakes to indemnify another against loss, damage, or liability arising from a contingent or unknown event.(Enacted by Stats. 1935,...
• Section 23.
  The person who undertakes to indemnify another by insurance is the insurer, and the person indemnified is the insured.(Enacted by Stats. 1935, Ch. 145.)
• Section 24.
  “Admitted,” in relation to a person, means entitled to transact insurance business in this state, having complied with the laws imposing conditions precedent to transaction...
• Section 25.
  “Nonadmitted,” in relation to a person, means not entitled to transact insurance business in this State, whether by reason of failure to comply with conditions...
• Section 26.
  “Domestic” means organized under the laws of this State, whether or not admitted.(Enacted by Stats. 1935, Ch. 145.)
• Section 27.
  “Foreign” means not organized under the laws of this State, whether or not admitted.(Enacted by Stats. 1935, Ch. 145.)
• Section 28.
  “State” means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. In the latter case, it includes the District of...
• Section 29.
  “Mortgage” includes a trust deed, “mortgagor” includes a trustor under such trust deed, “mortgagee” includes a beneficiary under such trust deed, or a trustee exercising...
• Section 30.
  “Resident” means residing in this State, “nonresident” means not residing in this State.(Enacted by Stats. 1935, Ch. 145.)
• Section 31.
  “Insurance agent” means a person authorized, by and on behalf of an insurer, to transact all classes of insurance other than life, disability, or health...
• Section 32.
  (a) A life licensee is a person authorized to act as a life agent on behalf of a life insurer or a disability insurer to transact...
• Section 32.5.
  “Life and disability insurance analyst” means a person who, for a fee or compensation of any kind, paid by or derived from any person or...
• Section 33.
  “Insurance broker” means a person who, for compensation and on behalf of another person, transacts insurance other than life, disability, or health with, but not...
• Section 33.5.
  (a) “Casualty broker-agent” means a person licensed pursuant to Section 1625.(b) “Property broker-agent” means a person licensed pursuant to Section 1625.(Amended by Stats. 2011, Ch. 411, Sec....
• Section 34.
  “Insurance solicitor” means a natural person employed to aid a property and casualty broker-agent acting as an insurance agent or insurance broker in transacting insurance...
• Section 35.
  “Transact” as applied to insurance includes any of the following:(a) Solicitation.(b) Negotiations preliminary to execution.(c) Execution of a contract of insurance.(d) Transaction of matters subsequent to execution of the...
• Section 36.
  “Paid-in capital” or “capital paid-in” means:(a) In the case of a foreign mutual insurer not issuing or having outstanding capital stock, the value of its assets...
• Section 37.
  Provisions of this code relating to a particular class of insurance or a particular type of insurer prevail over provisions relating to insurance in general...
• Section 38.
  Unless expressly otherwise provided, any notice required to be given to any person by any provision of this code may be given by mailing notice,...
• Section 38.6.
  (a) (1) Any written record required to be given or mailed to any person by a licensee, including an offer of renewal required by Sections 663 and...
• Section 38.6.a.
  (a) (1) Any written record required to be given or mailed to any person by a licensee, including an offer of renewal required by paragraph (1) of...
• Section 38.8.
  Insurers shall maintain a system for electronically confirming a policyholder’s decision to opt in to an agreement to conduct transactions electronically and a system that...
• Section 39.
  If any provision of this code, or the application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held invalid, the remainder of the code, or the...
• Section 40.
  The existence of insurers formed prior to the date this code takes effect shall not be affected by the enactment of this code nor by...
• Section 41.
  All insurance in this State is governed by the provisions of this code.(Enacted by Stats. 1935, Ch. 145.)
• Section 42.
  The designation of insurance coverage as “group” in any code or law of this State other than this code does not authorize its representation as...
• Section 44.
  Any person who willfully and knowingly makes, circulates, or transmits to another any false written or printed statement for the purpose of damaging the financial...
• Section 45.
  (a) “Electronic funds transfer” means any transfer of funds, other than a transaction originated by check, draft, or similar paper instrument, that is initiated through an...
• Section 46.
  The Legislature hereby declares its intent that the term “workmen’s compensation” shall hereafter also be known as “workers’ compensation.” In furtherance of this policy it...
• Section 47.
  “Surplus line broker” means a person licensed under Section 1765 and authorized to do business under Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 1760) of Part 2...
• Section 48.
  A “surplus line broker certificate” means a certificate issued by a surplus line broker to an insurance purchaser as evidence of the placement of insurance...

Last modified: October 22, 2018