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Section 790.03(b) prohibits making, publishing, or circulating any false, maliciously critical, or derogatory statement calculated to injure any person engaged in the business of insurance. Lying about a competitor's financial condition is the classic example of defamation of an insurer. Twisting involves misrepresentations to induce a policy replacement, boycott involves coercive agreements not to deal, and rebating involves giving improper inducements to the insured.

10 CCR §2695.7(b) requires the insurer to accept or deny a claim, in whole or in part, no later than 40 calendar days after receiving proof of claim. The 15-day figure relates to acknowledging receipt of the claim, and 30 days is the deadline to issue payment after an agreement is reached. Sixty days is not a benchmark in the regulation.

10 CCR §2695.5(e)(1) requires the insurer to acknowledge receipt of a claim communication immediately, but in no event more than 15 calendar days after receipt. The longer 40-day window is the deadline to accept or deny coverage, not to acknowledge.

Under 10 CCR §2695.7(h), once the amount due is determined and not in dispute, payment must be tendered within 30 calendar days. Fifteen days is the acknowledgment deadline, and 40 days is the accept-or-deny deadline.

Section 1749 requires 24 hours of continuing education every two-year license term for a fire-and-casualty or life-only licensee, including at least 3 hours of ethics. The other figures are not the statutory requirement for a P&C broker-agent.

Section 31 defines an insurance agent as a person authorized to transact insurance on behalf of an insurer. Section 33 defines a broker as a person who, for compensation and on behalf of another, transacts insurance other than life with, but not on behalf of, an admitted insurer. So an agent represents the insurer, while a broker represents the insured. Only brokers may charge a broker fee, the opposite of choice (d).

Section 1733 requires a licensee who handles premiums to hold them in a fiduciary capacity and not commingle them with personal or business operating funds. Premiums are trust funds that must be remitted to the insurer net of commission or returned to the insured. Choices (b), (c), and (d) are all commingling or conversion violations.

Section 1668 lists grounds for discipline including felony or moral-turpitude misdemeanor convictions, fraud or misrepresentation in the application, and conduct showing incompetence or untrustworthiness. Mere non-membership in a private trade association is not a basis for discipline.

Section 791.02 requires the Notice of Information Practices to be delivered at or before the time information is collected from a source other than the applicant or insured (for example, an investigative consumer report or MIB). Post-claim or only-on-request delivery does not satisfy the statute.

Section 1871.4 makes it unlawful to knowingly present a false or fraudulent statement in support of a workers' compensation claim. The offense is a wobbler punishable by up to five years in state prison plus substantial fines. Withdrawal of the claim is no defense once the false statement has been made.

Article 4.5 of the Insurance Code (§1875.20 et seq.) requires insurers to maintain a Special Investigative Unit, or SIU, to detect and investigate suspected insurance fraud. The FAIR Plan handles residual property risks, not fraud investigation, and DMHC regulates HMOs.

Section 12921 charges the Commissioner with executing and enforcing the Insurance Code and adopting reasonable regulations. Workers' compensation benefit levels are set by the Legislature in the Labor Code, HMO rates fall under DMHC, and individual tort suits are handled by the courts.

Section 250 (and §280) provide that insurable interest in property must exist at the time of loss. Unlike life insurance, where insurable interest is required only at inception, property insurance follows an indemnity principle and requires the insured to actually stand to suffer economic loss when the event occurs.

For a policy expiring on or after July 1, 2020, §678(c)(1) requires the notice of non-renewal at least 75 days before expiration — "notwithstanding subdivisions (a) and (b)", which is where the familiar 45 days sits. The 45 in §678(a)(1) governs the offer-of-renewal branch, not the non-renewal notice, and reading only that far is how the shorter number survives in study material. If the insurer misses the 75 days, §678(c)(2) keeps the existing policy in force on the same terms for 75 days from the date the notice is finally delivered.

Section 10086 of the Mandatory Earthquake Insurance Offer Law requires every residential property insurer to offer earthquake coverage at the time it issues or renews a homeowners policy. The offer must be written and may be accepted or declined; coverage is not bundled automatically, and surplus lines and the federal NFIP do not satisfy the requirement.

Proposition 103 (codified at §1861.05) introduced a prior-approval system: P&C insurers must file rates with the Commissioner and obtain approval before using them. File-and-use is not allowed for most personal lines after Prop 103. DMHC and the FAIR Plan do not approve rates.

Section 790.03(h) enumerates 16 unfair claims settlement practices, including misrepresenting pertinent facts or policy provisions to claimants. Twisting concerns replacement of policies, defamation concerns false statements about insurers, and boycott concerns coercion among insurers.

Section 1631 expressly prohibits any person from soliciting, negotiating, or effecting contracts of insurance unless that person holds a valid license. The penalty includes fines, restitution, and potential criminal prosecution. Lack of commission, one-off transactions, and non-admitted insurer status are not defenses.

Sections 1733-1734 require premiums to be held in fiduciary trust and not commingled or converted. Depositing client premiums into the broker's personal account is the textbook example of commingling and conversion. The other choices describe lawful conduct.

10 CCR §2695.4(a) requires the insurer to disclose to a first-party claimant all benefits, coverages, time limits, or other provisions of any policy that may apply to the claim. Waiting for counsel, partial disclosure, or no disclosure is a violation of the regulation.

Section 1633 provides that producer licenses are issued for a two-year term and must be renewed before expiration. One, three, and four years are not the statutory cycle.

Section 791.13 prohibits disclosure of personal information to nonaffiliated third parties without the individual's written authorization, except for specific enumerated purposes such as fraud investigation, regulatory examination, or actuarial study. Internal underwriting preference, marketing without limit, and the passage of time are not exceptions.

Section 1749.3 makes completion of the required continuing education a precondition of renewal; the Commissioner cannot renew a license that fails the CE requirement. The other options are not authorized remedies.

Full-service HMOs operate under the Knox-Keene Health Care Service Plan Act and are regulated by the Department of Managed Health Care. The CDI regulates traditional indemnity and PPO products but not HMOs.

Section 790.03(a) prohibits making, issuing, or circulating any misrepresentation regarding the terms or benefits of any policy. Promising a guaranteed dividend that does not exist is a textbook misrepresentation. Coercion, boycott, and unauthorized practice of law are separate violations.

Section 1724.5 requires a licensee to file a notice of change of address with the Commissioner within 30 days. Shorter periods are not statutory.

Section 790.03(h) prohibits unfair claim settlement practices when committed knowingly or with such frequency as to indicate a general business practice. A repeated failure to acknowledge claims is exactly the kind of pattern the statute targets.

Section 675.1 and §677.2 prohibit cancellation or non-renewal solely because a covered property is in a declared wildfire emergency area for one year after the emergency declaration. Six months, 30 days, and 5 years are not the statutory moratorium.

Section 750 (anti-rebating) makes it unlawful to give any valuable consideration not specified in the policy as an inducement to insurance. A $200 cash-equivalent gift card is a classic rebate. Advertising specialties of nominal value, commission-sharing with another licensed agent, and accurate quoting are not rebates.

Section 1879.5 grants insurers civil immunity for good-faith reports of suspected fraud to authorized agencies. Strict liability and conviction-based liability are not part of the statute, and the insurer is not required to pay a suspected fraudulent claim while the matter is investigated.