California Insurance Agency License: Requirements and Fees

Let's set the stage

California is the most paperwork heavy state on our list, and it starts before you file. The California Department of Insurance (CDI) issues business entity licenses, which it also calls organization licenses, by license type: Property Broker-Agent, Casualty Broker-Agent, Life-Only Agent and Accident and Health Agent. An entity may hold the license before it is appointed, but it may not transact, solicit or negotiate until it has an appointment on file, or for property and casualty, an appointment or the $10,000 broker bond.

California agency license at a glance

Step one is name approval

Here's the thing most people learn the hard way. Every new business entity must have its name approved through Sircon's Business Entity Name Approval Request before it applies, and NIPR applications ask for that confirmation number. CDI's criteria under Insurance Code 1724.5 say the name must include "Insurance" plus a descriptive word such as Agency, Services, Marketing or Sales. It is rejected if its first two words already belong to another licensee. "Advisor" and "State" are unacceptable words, and "Administrators," "California" and "County" are improper uses. The fee schedule lists producer name approval at $58.

Endorsements: California's version of the DRLP

At least one natural person licensed for the same line must be endorsed on the entity license: a resident license for a resident entity, a nonresident license for a nonresident entity. The CDI FAQ goes further and says all licensed persons who will exercise the license's powers must be endorsed (Insurance Code 1656). Officers do not have to be licensed. Each endorsee costs $32, and later changes go through Sircon's Maintain Agency Associations. A nonresident entity must endorse at least one individual from a state other than California, though not necessarily its own home state.

How to apply, step by step

1. Get the agency name approved through Sircon.
2. Apply through Sircon's Business Entity Online Application Service. NIPR's California pages say the initial business entity license can also be filed through NIPR.
3. Endorse at least one licensed natural person per line. Anyone without an active California license files an individual application first.
4. File Action Notices of Appointment electronically ($32 each), or for property and casualty, the $10,000 Bond of Insurance Broker on form LIC 417-5.
5. LLCs: prove the security requirement on form LIC CC1 at application.
6. Register with the Secretary of State after the name is approved. CDI and the Secretary of State do not cross reference filings.

California agency license fees

A small Medicare agency licensing Accident and Health with two endorsed agents would pay $188 plus $64 in endorsements, before name approval and appointments. All filing fees are nonrefundable.

The LLC security rule

Let's be real: this is the line item that surprises LLC owners. Under Insurance Code 1647.5, an LLC licensee must maintain E&O or other security of at least $500,000 plus $100,000 for each licensee rendering services, capped at $5,000,000. Proof goes on form LIC CC1, signed by the insurer; CDI does not accept a certificate or binder. An annual LIC CC1 is due by March 31. Bank or escrow verification can stand in for or add to the E&O. CDI pages state no E&O rule for corporations.

Renewal

The license runs two years. Renewal is $188 per license type, with one fee when property and casualty renew together. Late renewal costs $282 and is possible up to one year after expiration; after that you file a new application, and late renewals must re-file appointments and endorsements. Most entities must renew electronically through Sircon.

What we could not verify

CDI's fee schedule is dated March 3, 2019, though NIPR's current pages show the same $188 and $32 amounts. We could not fetch the statute text of Insurance Code 1647.5, 1656 or 1724.5 and relied on CDI's summaries. Call the Producer Licensing Hotline at (800) 967-9331 to confirm.

After the license

A licensed California agency still needs carrier contracts before it can earn a dollar. We are a licensed agency in Draper, Utah, and we contract agencies across the country. Start at agency contracting with ESI, check what agency licenses cost in other states, or compare states on our agency license hub.

Updated October 13, 2026 by the Everything Senior Insurance Data Desk.