The bill broadens the commissioner's authority to examine an applicant's or licensee's business and affairs by allowing him to do so when he considers it in the public interest, rather than solely in response to a licensing or license application review complaint. Provider The bill modifies the definition of viatical settlement contract. Current law states that such written contracts are between a viatical settlement provider and a viator and establishes the terms and conditions of a viatical settlement. The bill specifies that the contract establishes the terms under which the provider will pay compensation or other value in return for the viator's assignment, transfer, sale, devise, or bequest of the death benefit or ownership of all or a portion of the insurance policy or certificate to the provider and that the compensation or value is less than the policy's or certificate's expected death benefit. The bill includes contracts for a loan or other financial transactions secured by an individual or group life insurance policy within the definition but excludes policy loans made by the insurer under the terms of the policy or loans secured by a policy's cash value.
Current law defines a provider as a person who enters into one or more contracts.
The bill adds people who obtain financing to purchase, acquire, transfer or assign one or more contracts, policies or interest in them, or to otherwise sell, assign, transfer, pledge, hypothecate. or dispose of one or more contracts, policies, or interest in them. A viator is someone with a catastrophic or life-threatening illness or condition who owns a life insurance policy or holds a certificate, that insures his life and who enters into a viatical settlement contract. A viatical settlement broker is a person who for a fee, commission, or other valuable consideration advertises or advises people on the availability of viatical settlements, introduces viators to providers, and offers or attempts to negotiate viatical settlements.