12 Hours of Ethics and California Insurance Code – Frequently Asked Questions

20-Hour Prelicensing Required is Repealed (Assembly Bill 943, Chapter 566, Statutes of 2025) Frequently Asked Questions.

License Applicants

1. Does Assembly Bill (AB) 943 repeal the 20-hour prelicensing course requirements only for insurance producers? If yes, when does this new law take effect?

   • Yes, the 20-hour prelicensing education requirements will be removed from the California Insurance Code section 1749. Effective January 1, 2026, the insurance license applicants who will no longer be required to complete this requirement include property, casualty, personal lines, commercial lines, limited lines automobile, life, and accident and health or sickness license applicants.

2. How should license applicants who are required to pass a license examination prepare for the examination if there is no 20-hour prelicensing education requirement?

• The Department encourages license applicants to study the License Examination Objectives pertaining to the examination they will be taking and locate an education provider who is offering a study course on that specific topic. The examination objectives are on the Department’s Education Provider Information, License Examination Objectives web page.
  
  Please note, after passing your license examination, you must submit your fingerprints before submitting your license application. When submitting your license application, ensure you select the appropriate license(s) types for which you qualify (e.g., select both casualty and property license types, or select both accident and health or sickness and life agent on the license application).

3. If I complete a 20-hour insurance producer prelicensing course and a 12-hour ethics course on December 31, 2025, will I receive credit for completing those courses?

• Yes, students will be given credit for the 20-hour, 32-hour, and 52-hour insurance producer prelicensing courses completed near or on December 31, 2025. Education providers will have until January 11, 2026 to submit their 20-hour, 32-hour or 52-hour prelicensing course rosters. On January 12, 2026, these prelicensing courses will be deactivated.

4. What date will the 20-hour Prelicensing Course be removed from the Department’s Education Provider and Course Search online services?

• At the end of the business day on December 31, 2025.

5. Does AB 943 impact all license applicants?

• No, AB 943 removes the 20-hour prelicensing requirement stated in California Insurance Code section 1749. This change affects individuals who are applying for the following insurance producer licenses: property, casualty, commercial lines, personal lines, limited line automobile, life, and accident and health or sickness.
  
  Bail agents and public insurance adjusters are required to complete a 20-hour prelicensing education course before their licenses can be issued.

6. Does the license applicant have to complete the 12 hours of study on ethics and the California Insurance Code before they are authorized to schedule and take the license examination?

• No. Completing the 12 hours of study on ethics and the California Insurance Code is not a requirement to be authorized to schedule and take the insurance license examination.
  
  However, the 12-hour ethics course must be completed before the individual’s license can be issued. Currently, both the 20-hour prelicensing and 12-hour ethics courses are mandatory for license issuance The specific requirements change on January 1, 2026, does not remove the requirement to complete 12 hours of study on ethics and California Insurance Code before the license can be issued.

7. Will anyone who completes the approved 32-hour prelicensing courses be permitted to use that certificate of completion in 2026?

• Yes, a prelicensing certificate of completion does not expire for three years, as currently stated in California Insurance Code section 1749(l). AB 943 did not amend that section. However, due to the removal of the 20-hour prelicensing course subsections in Section 1749, on and after January 1, 2026, three-year prelicensing course expiration date will be in Section 1749(c).

8. Will the Commissioner-appointed Curriculum Board continue to maintain and update the specific license examination curriculum outlines and the 12 hours of ethics and California Insurance Code curriculum outlines?

• Yes, as stated in California Insurance Code section 1749.1 , the Curriculum Board will continue to propose revisions and provide updates to the Department’s insurance producer license examination objectives for the Department’s review and approval. AB 943 did not amend Section 1749.1.
  
  On January 1, 2026, the former “Prelicensing Educational Objectives” will become the “License Examination Objectives.” These objectives will be launched during the month of November as a study guide for license applicants. This will enable education providers to create and offer the specific courses to help license applicants prepare for their license examinations. The Department will no longer review the education providers’ courses for approval.

9. Will the license examination change in any way?

• No. The insurance license examinations will not change. AB 943 is specific to prelicensing education requirements.

10. Will non-resident licensees moving to California still have to complete the 12 hours of study on ethics and the California Insurance Code?

• Yes, this is currently stated in California Insurance Code sections 1749(h) and (i). On January 1, 2026, this requirement will be stated in California Insurance Code section 1749(a)(2).

Education Providers

1. When AB 943 goes into effect on January 1, 2026, are there any changes to course completion requirements (specifically, time tracking) for the 12-Hour Code & Ethics course?

• No, AB 943 does not affect the course completion requirements (including time tracking) for the 12-hour ethics and California Insurance Code course, or the bail agent or the public insurance adjuster prelicensing courses.

2. As an education provider, can we teach a life prelicensing course without the Department’s approval? If yes, is the course required to be 20 hours? Or, is the Department’s review and the course time monitoring now only apply to the 12-hour study on ethics and the California Insurance Code?

• Education providers may offer prelicensing preparation courses based on the Department’s License Examination Objectives; however, the Department will no longer review and approve prelicensing courses for property, casualty, personal lines, commercial lines, limited lines automobile, life, accident and health or sickness licensing.
  
  The Department will continue to review and approve 12-hour ethics and California Insurance Code course, as well as bail agent, independent or public insurance adjuster prelicensing courses. There is no effect to the time monitoring or reporting requirements with these courses.

3. After January 1, 2026, will the Department continue to accept prelicensing courses, other than ethics, for approval?

• After January 1, 2026, the Department will only accept prelicensing courses for the 12-Hour ethics and California Insurance Code, bail agent and public insurance adjuster 20-hour prelicensing courses. All other prelicensing course applications will be denied.

4. Are all 20-hour and 40-hour prelicensing courses being deactivated on January 1, 2026?

• All 20-hour and 40-hour prelicensing courses for property, casualty, personal lines, commercial lines, limited lines automobile, life, accident and health or sickness license will be deactivated on January 12, 2026.

• All 20-hour prelicensing courses for bail agent and public insurance adjuster licenses, as well as 12-hour of study on ethics and California Insurance Code courses will remain active.

5. To confirm, with the 20 hours prelicensing requirement removed, an education provider can offer a 12-hour course that covers the prelicensing content that was originally part of the 20-hour requirement, along with the required 12 hours of ethics, instead of 32 hours (or 52 hours for the combined Life and Health).

   • No. Courses approved for the 12-Hour Ethics and Code may only contain topics found in the 12 Hour of Study on Ethics and the California Insurance Code Outline.