N.Y. Insurance Law § 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.