Connecticut's insurance law is in Title 38a of the Connecticut General Statutes and the Insurance Department's regulations in the Regulations of Connecticut State Agencies (Regs. Conn. State Agencies). Expect the state section of the exam to test producer licensing, appointments, unfair practices, the guaranty funds and the P&C notice rules below. The shared national guide covers contract law, agency and general concepts. This page is Connecticut-only.

About the exam

Connecticut's exams are delivered by Pearson VUE. The passing score is 70% on every exam except Bail Bonds, which requires 80%.

Candidates bring a prelicensing education certificate or waiver letter to every attempt, including retakes. Retake reservations can't be made at the test center, and you must wait 24 hours before booking one. A candidate who fails must reapply and pay all fees again before being scheduled (38a-702d(d)). After passing, apply for the license through NIPR. The test center does not issue licenses.

The regulator

• The Insurance Commissioner is appointed by the Governor. The appointee may not be a director, officer or agent of an insurance company (Conn. Gen. Stat. 38a-7).
• The Commissioner has all powers reasonable and necessary to protect the public, including ordering restitution plus interest (38a-8).
• The Commissioner may examine any company as often as the Commissioner deems expedient. The examined company pays for outside professionals (38a-14).
• A person ordered to produce records has 30 calendar days to comply. At the Commissioner's request, the Attorney General may seek an injunction (38a-16).
• The Division of Consumer Affairs takes complaints and mediates claim disputes (38a-9). It also runs arbitration of auto physical damage claims, with a $20 filing fee per party.
• Insurer licenses expire on May 1 each year. Not writing a line for two consecutive calendar years can justify revoking that line (38a-41).
• Definitions (38a-1): domestic means chartered in Connecticut, foreign means another U.S. state or territory, and alien means outside the U.S. An unauthorized (nonadmitted) insurer holds no certificate of authority. A mutual has no capital stock, and its members elect the directors.

Producer licensing

• A producer is anyone required to be licensed to sell, solicit or negotiate insurance (38a-702a).
  • Solicit means attempting to sell, or urging someone to apply for a particular kind of insurance from a particular company.
  • Negotiate means conferring with or advising a buyer about the substantive terms of a particular contract.
• The license itself creates no authority to bind an insurer. That authority comes from an appointment (38a-702a(8)).
• Requirements: at least 18, plus a prelicensing course of at least 20 hours for each line (so 40 hours for Life plus A&H) (38a-702e).
• Waivers:
  • CLU waives the life and A&H exam. CPCU waives the P&C exam (38a-702h(c)).
  • The A&H prelicensing course is waived for CEBS, CLU, HIA, REBC or RHU holders. CPCU, AAI and ARM waive P&C prelicensing.
  • The exam is waived for anyone who held the same type of Connecticut license within the past year (38a-702e(f)).
• Lines (38a-702f): Life (includes annuities), Accident & Health, Property, Casualty, Personal Lines (noncommercial P&C), and Variable Life/Variable Annuity. The variable line needs no extra Connecticut course or exam, but securities registration is required to sell variable products.
• Business entities designate a licensed producer responsible for compliance (38a-702e(b)).
• Assumed names require notice to the Commissioner before use (38a-702i).
• Nonresidents in good standing at home are licensed reciprocally without a Connecticut exam (38a-702g).
• New residents must apply within 90 days of moving. They need no exam for lines already held (38a-702h(b)).
• Exemptions: clerical employees and claims, underwriting or loss-control staff who receive no commission don't need a license (38a-702c). Neither does a person handling a multistate commercial risk who is licensed in the insured's home state.
• A license is required to adjust claims for an insurer (38a-792).

Keeping the license

• Term: licenses expire in the birth month every two years (38a-784). The Department sends notice of the expiration date at least 30 days in advance.
• Lapsed license: can be reinstated within 12 months without an exam by paying a penalty of double the renewal fee (38a-702f(c)). Producers who can't renew because of military service may request a waiver.
• Continuing education (Regs. 38a-782a):
  • 24 credit hours per two-year period, applied to the license as a whole rather than to each line.
  • 3 hours must be in Connecticut law, regulations and ethics.
  • A credit hour is 50 minutes. Up to 24 excess hours carry over.
  • Connecticut grants no extensions except for military service.
  • Nonresidents meet their home-state requirement instead. New residents licensed on the strength of a prior home-state license are exempt in their first biennium.
  • The Commissioner must give 30 days' written notice before refusing renewal for CE.
• Reporting (38a-771, 38a-702o), each within 30 days:
  • a change of address (including e-mail), name, employer or responsible producer
  • a bankruptcy, a felony conviction, or another state's administrative action (with the order)
  • a criminal prosecution, counted from the initial pretrial hearing
• Temporary license: up to 180 days, no exam, for example for the surviving spouse or personal representative of a producer who dies or becomes disabled. The Commissioner may require a sponsor (38a-702j).
• Brokered Transactions Guaranty Fund: new producers pay $10 into the fund. It compensates a resident harmed by a producer's embezzlement, fraud or misrepresentation, up to $10,000 in the aggregate (38a-880).

Appointments and agency contracts

• An insurer must appoint a producer before the producer acts as its agent. The notice of appointment is filed within 15 days after the agency contract is signed or the first application is submitted (38a-702m). A producer who isn't acting as an insurer's agent needs no appointment.
• Ending an appointment: written notice to the Department, the agent and the agency within 30 days (38a-784(d)).
• Ending an agency contract: the insurer gives at least 90 days' notice, unless the reason is the producer's failure to remit after demand (38a-709). During those 90 days, new business needs the insurer's written approval. A fire and casualty insurer must allow renewals for 18 months at the prior commission rate.
• Commissions go only to licensed persons. Renewal and deferred commissions may be paid to a producer, or the producer's heir or assignee, if the producer was licensed when the sale was made (38a-702l).
• Fees beyond commissions require a written memorandum signed by the client that states the amount (38a-707). Insurer compensation must be disclosed and acknowledged before the policy is delivered (38a-707a).

Premiums and fiduciary duties

• A premium paid to the producer is deemed paid to the insurer (38a-715).
• Insurers report a producer who fails to remit within 30 days after the account due date (38a-712). If a dishonored remittance isn't resolved within 15 days, the license is automatically suspended. It is revoked if no hearing is demanded within 60 days.
• Misappropriating or converting premium (commingling) is grounds for discipline (38a-702k).
• Signing policies in blank brings a fine of up to $1,000 and mandatory revocation (38a-713).
• Controlled business: a license may not be used mainly to earn commissions on your own, your spouse's, your employer's or your controlled corporation's insurance. If premiums from the general public don't exceed nine times the controlled-business premiums, that use is conclusively presumed (38a-782(b)).

Unfair practices (38a-816, 38a-825, 38a-826)

• Misrepresentation, including intentionally misquoting a premium. False advertising, including any use of "free" or "no cost" in an advertisement (38a-825(e)).
• Twisting (38a-826): misrepresentation or an incomplete comparison used to induce a lapse or replacement. Penalty: up to $5,000, 30 days in jail, or both.
• Defamation of an insurer's finances. Boycott, coercion or intimidation. False financial statements. Coercing borrowers to use a particular insurer or producer.
• Rebating (38a-825): both giving and accepting a rebate are prohibited. Allowed:
  • noncash gifts that are reasonable, not unfairly discriminatory and not conditioned on a purchase
  • value-added services related to the coverage, such as loss mitigation or health programs
• Unfair discrimination:
  • blindness
  • being a victim of domestic violence
  • genetic information (in health coverage)
  • life insurers may not discriminate on race, sexual orientation, gender identity, domestic-violence status or erased criminal records (38a-447)
• Application fraud: false statements on an application to earn a commission. Penalty up to $4,000, six months in jail, or both (38a-772).
• Claims:
  • Unfair claim practices are the listed acts done often enough to be a general business practice (38a-816(6)).
  • Health claims must be paid within 20 days if filed electronically or 60 days on paper, with 15% annual interest when late (38a-816(15)).
  • Insurers keep a complaint register covering the period since the last examination.
• Penalties (38a-817):
  • up to $5,000 per act, $50,000 aggregate
  • knowing violations: up to $25,000 per act, $250,000 in any six months
  • violating a cease and desist order: up to $50,000 per violation
  • producer fines: up to $5,000 (38a-774)
  • general penalty where no other applies: up to $15,000 (38a-2)
  • Hearings are set at least 30 days after notice is served.
• License denial hearings: demand one within 30 days of notice, and it is held within 20 days of the demand (38a-702k). Revoking an entity's license also revokes its officers' licenses unless they were not personally at fault.

Privacy (Insurance Information and Privacy Protection Act)

• Notice of information practices: given at policy delivery when information comes only from the applicant or public records (38a-979).
• Disclosure authorizations last up to 30 months for life, health and disability, and one year for P&C (38a-981).
• Access requests are answered within 30 business days (38a-983).
• Adverse underwriting decisions: the consumer has 90 business days to request reasons, and the insurer answers within 21 business days (38a-985).
• Pretext interviews are banned except in claim investigations with a reasonable basis to suspect fraud or crime (38a-978).

P&C rules: notices, binders and surplus lines

• Nonrenewal of personal and commercial risk policies: at least 60 days' notice with the reason, or 90 days for professional liability (38a-323). A conditional renewal on less favorable terms requires the same notice. Premium billing notices go out at least 30 days before renewal.
• Commercial cancellation after 60 days is allowed only for statutory reasons (38a-324):
  • 10 days' notice for nonpayment, crime, fraud, willful acts or a Commissioner determination
  • 60 days for other reasons, such as a material increase in hazard or loss of reinsurance
  • 90 days for professional liability
• Any insured may name a third party to receive cancellation notices (38a-323a).
• Claim denial letters must point the insured to the Division of Consumer Affairs (38a-323b).
• Binders may be oral or written, for up to 60 days (38a-309). A lender must accept a written binder at closing.
• Rates for personal risk insurance may not be excessive, inadequate or unfairly discriminatory (38a-686). Forms must be filed before use.
• Surplus lines (38a-741 to 38a-745, 38a-794):
  • The broker must hold a producer license.
  • Diligent effort with admitted insurers is required unless the line is on the Commissioner's export list, which is republished every six months. Flood placements are also exempt.
  • Tax is 4% of gross premium.
  • Every policy carries a notice that it is not protected by the guaranty association.
• Premium finance companies are licensed (38a-162 to 38a-170):
  • service charge up to 15% a year plus $10 per agreement
  • 10 days' notice before canceling for default
• Connecticut FAIR Plan: basic property insurance for people the voluntary market won't write. See the other personal lines guide.

Guaranty associations

• Connecticut Insurance Guaranty Association (P&C, 38a-838 to 38a-841):
  • Pays covered claims over $100 and under $500,000 (liquidations after October 1, 2015). Workers' comp is paid in full.
  • Unearned premium claims are paid at half, up to $2,000 per policy.
  • Claims must be filed within two years of insolvency, except timely workers' comp claims.
  • Three accounts: workers' comp, auto, and all other.
  • Surplus lines and risk retention group policies are excluded.
• Connecticut Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association:
  • $500,000 death benefit per life.
  • $500,000 aggregate cap per individual (38a-860). A higher cap of $5,000,000 applies only to one owner of multiple nongroup policies.
  • Using the association in sales is prohibited (38a-871).

Exam traps

• Connecticut does file appointments: within 15 days. Terminations are reported in 30 days.
• 20 hours of prelicensing per line. 24 CE hours including 3 of law, regulations and ethics. No CE extensions.
• Nonrenewal takes 60 days' notice, or 90 for professional liability. The binder limit is 60 days.
• Guaranty limit is $500,000, higher than in many states.