California's insurance brokers are licensed.

California's insurance brokers are licensed and disciplined by the Insurance Commissioner through the Department of Insurance (DOI). It has been my experience that the Department of Insurance takes a firm stance in disciplining its licensees. In my view there are three reasons that account for this: 1) the Insurance Commissioner is an elected public official who has political concerns should his Department be perceived as being weak in disciplining licensees, 2) the legacy of the Insurance Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush scandal in 2000, and 3) the subsequent enactment of Insurance Code section 12921 which makes the Insurance Commissioner solely responsible for the administrative settlements. There are particular public protection issues relative to insurance brokers, because theft of premium monies and the failure to bind insurance, which leaves consumers unprotected and vulnerable, are constant problems.

The DOI also has some powerful tools in its tool chest, including Insurance Code section 1669, which allows for summary revocation of a license (that is, revocation without a hearing), as well as summary denial of a license application, where a licensee or license applicant has been convicted of a felony, has lost another occupational license, or has been convicted of a criminal violation of the Insurance Code. The Insurance Code also permits the DOI to revoke a license when a licensee is "not of good business reputation" or it is simply "against the public interest" for them to have a license. No profession, not even physicians, is subject to such vague and broad standards of discipline.