2023 New York Laws › ISC - Insurance › Article 68 - Bail Bonds › 6802 - Professional Bondsmen; Licensing.

§  6802.  Professional  bondsmen;  licensing.   (a) No person, firm or
corporation or any officer or employee thereof shall act in  this  state
as  an  agent or solicitor of an insurer or charitable bail organization
doing a bail business in soliciting,  negotiating  or  effectuating  any
such   deposit   or  bail  bond  by  such  insurer  or  charitable  bail
organization unless licensed by the superintendent as an agent  pursuant
to  the  provisions of this section.  Any person, firm or corporation so
acting without being duly licensed shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
(b) Every corporation or charitable bail organization engaging  as  an
insurer  doing  a  bail  business  in this state shall procure a license
pursuant to the provisions of this section for each  of  its  employees,
officers  and  agents  acting  for  it  in  soliciting,  negotiating  or
effectuating any such deposit or bail bond.
(c) The superintendent may, in the superintendent's discretion,  issue
to  any  person,  firm or corporation a license to act as an agent of an
authorized insurer  or  charitable  bail  organization,  in  soliciting,
negotiating  or  effectuating  any  such  deposit  or  bail bond by such
insurer or any such deposit by such charitable bail organization.
(d) Any such license issued to a firm or corporation  shall  authorize
only  the  members  named  in  such  license  as  sublicensees,  to  act
individually  as  agents  thereunder.  Any  sublicense   issued   to   a
corporation  shall  authorize  only  the officers and directors named in
such license as sublicensees, to act individually as agents  thereunder.
Every  sublicensee,  acting  as  insurance  agent  pursuant to a license
issued to a firm or corporation, shall be authorized to act only in  the
name of such firm or corporation.
(e) Before the issuance of a license every applicant shall satisfy the
superintendent  as  to  his trustworthiness and competence and otherwise
comply with the conditions set forth in this section. The superintendent
may refuse to issue any such license if in  his  judgment  such  refusal
will best promote the interests of the people of this state.
(f)  At  the  time  of the application for every license a twenty-five
dollar fee shall be paid to the superintendent for each year or fraction
of a year in  which  a  license  shall  be  valid  for  each  individual
applicant and for each proposed sublicensee.
(g)  Every  applicant  for  a  license  hereunder  shall file with the
superintendent written evidence by those  who  know  his  character  and
reputation  and  by  such other proof as the superintendent may require,
including his fingerprints, that he is a person of  good  character  and
reputation  and  has never been convicted of any offense involving moral
turpitude or of any crime. If such applicant is a  firm  or  corporation
such  proof  must  be  made  with  respect to every member, shareholder,
officer and director of such  firm  or  corporation.  Such  fingerprints
shall  be  submitted  to the division of criminal justice services for a
state criminal history record check, as defined in  subdivision  one  of
section  three  thousand  thirty-five  of  the education law, and may be
submitted to the federal bureau of investigation for a national criminal
history record check.
(h) In order to determine the  competence  of  each  applicant  for  a
license   or  a  sublicense,  the  superintendent  shall  require  every
applicant to pass to the satisfaction of the  superintendent  a  written
examination  to be prepared by the superintendent and appropriate to the
doing of a bail business. If the applicant or any  proposed  sublicensee
intends  to  maintain  an  office  or  solicit, negotiate, effectuate or
deposit bail on behalf of another in any city containing a population of
more than one hundred seventy-five thousand,  such  written  examination
may  inquire  into the applicant's knowledge of the pertinent provisions
of the criminal procedure law and the pertinent rules and  practices  of

the  courts  and  district  attorneys'  offices  within  the area of the
applicant's proposed operations. Such examination shall be held at  such
times and places as the superintendent shall determine.
(i) Every individual applying to take any written examination shall at
the  time of applying pay to the superintendent, or at the discretion of
the superintendent, directly to any organization that is under  contract
to  provide  examination services, an examination fee of an amount which
is  the  actual  documented  administrative  cost  of   conducting   the
examination  as  certified  by  the superintendent from time to time. An
examination  fee  represents  an  administrative  expense  and  is   not
refundable.
(j)  Every  applicant  for  any  such  license  shall  file  with  the
superintendent a qualifying bond, approved by the attorney general as to
form and by the superintendent as to sufficiency, in a penalty  of  five
thousand  dollars,  conditioned  upon  the  faithful  performance of the
duties of such licensee. No such qualifying bond  shall  be  subject  to
termination  or  cancellation  by  either  party in less than sixty days
after the giving of written  notice  to  the  other  party  and  to  the
superintendent.  A  termination  or  cancellation  shall  not affect the
liability of the surety or sureties on such bond incurred prior  to  the
effective  date  of such termination or cancellation. If during the term
of such bond such licensee shall be guilty of  fraudulent  or  dishonest
conduct  or  other  misconduct  or  malfeasance in his dealings with any
court or magistrate or with any person or corporation in connection with
any deposit or bail bond, the attorney general may maintain an action on
such qualifying bond in the name of the people of this state and  either
recover  the  full  amount  of  the  penalty  or recover for the use and
benefit of the person or persons aggrieved, the amount of loss or injury
sustained by such person or persons by reason  of  such  misconduct.  No
such  recovery or recoveries shall exceed in the aggregate five thousand
dollars, exclusive of interest and costs.
(k) The superintendent may, upon notice and after a hearing, revoke or
suspend, for such period as  he  may  determine,  any  such  license  or
sublicense  issued  pursuant to the provisions of this section if, after
notice and hearing as specified in this chapter, he determines that  the
licensee or any sublicensee or any member of a firm or corporation which
is so licensed has:
(1)  violated  any  provision  of,  or  any obligation imposed by, the
insurance law, or has violated any other law of the state;
(2) has made a material  misstatement  in  the  application  for  such
license;
(3)  has been guilty of any fraudulent or dishonest practices or other
misconduct or malfeasance;
(4) has charged or received, as premium or compensation for the making
of any deposit or bail bond, any sum in excess of that permitted by law;
(5) has required, as a condition of his executing a  bail  bond,  that
the principal agree to engage the services of a specified attorney; or
(6) has demonstrated his incompetency or untrustworthiness to act as a
licensee.
(l) The superintendent, in lieu of revoking or suspending a license in
accordance  with  the  provisions  of  this  article,  may,  in  any one
proceeding, by order, require the licensee to pay to the people of  this
state  a  penalty  in  a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars for each
offense, and a penalty  in  a  sum  not  exceeding  twenty-five  hundred
dollars in the aggregate for all offenses. Upon failure of such licensee
to  pay such penalty within twenty days after the mailing of such order,
postage prepaid, registered, and addressed to the last  known  place  of
business  of  such  licensee,  unless such order is stayed by a court of

competent jurisdiction, the superintendent may  revoke  the  license  of
such  licensee  or  may  suspend  the  same  for  such  period as he may
determine.
(m)  Every  license  issued  to  an  officer, employee, or agent of an
insurer or charitable bail organization doing a bail  business  pursuant
to  this section shall be for a term expiring on the thirty-first day of
December of even numbered years and may be renewed for the  ensuing  two
calendar   years   upon   the  filing  of  a  renewal  application.  The
superintendent  may  refuse  to  issue  any  such  license  if  in   the
superintendent's  judgment  such refusal will best promote the interests
of the people of this state. Every such licensee and  sublicensee  shall
file  an  information  statement  on  or  before the thirty-first day of
December of each even numbered year, the  form  and  subject  matter  of
which may be prescribed by the superintendent.
(n)  Any  domestic, foreign or alien surety company which was licensed
to do a bail bond business in this state before January first,  nineteen
hundred  forty  shall  so  long as its license or any renewal remains in
force, be deemed licensed as an insurer to do such business  within  the
meaning of paragraph one of subsection (b) of section six thousand eight
hundred one of this article and article eleven of this chapter.
(o)  This  section  shall  not apply to any insurer authorized in this
state to execute and  issue  policies  of  motor  vehicle  and  aircraft
insurance  as specified in paragraphs thirteen, fourteen and nineteen of
subsection (a) of section one thousand  one  hundred  thirteen  of  this
chapter  or  to  any  agent  of such insurer or to any broker who, as an
incident to the execution and issuance of any  such  policy  or  to  the
solicitation,  negotiation  or procurement thereof undertakes to pay, in
addition to the applicable limits of liability, the cost of  bail  bonds
required  of  the  insured  because  of accident or asserted traffic law
violations arising out of the use of a vehicle insured under  the  terms
of  the policy, provided the cost of each such bail bond does not exceed
one hundred dollars, or who otherwise arranges for the  execution  of  a
bail  bond  or  deposit in lieu of cash bail on behalf of the insured in
the event of the insured's arrest or detention by reason of an  asserted
violation of any law relating to the use of a motor vehicle.
(p)  The  superintendent  may  issue  a replacement for a currently in
force license which has been lost or destroyed. Before such  replacement
license  shall  be  issued,  there shall be on file in the office of the
superintendent a  written  application  for  such  replacement  license,
affirming  under  penalty  of perjury that the original license has been
lost or destroyed, together with a fee of fifteen dollars.