Insurance Regulation (Georgia)
Who regulates and how
Georgia insurance is regulated primarily by the Commissioner of Insurance, a statewide elected official who heads the Department of Insurance. The Commissioner licenses producers, agencies, adjusters, and counselors; conducts market-conduct and financial examinations; investigates consumer complaints; and enforces the state's unfair trade practice statutes. Federal law overlaps mainly through securities regulation (variable products) and ERISA (employer benefit plans).
Producer duties and prohibitions
A producer must hold a license for each line sold and an appointment from the insurer before soliciting. Premiums are held in a fiduciary capacity: they belong to the insurer or the insured, never to the producer. Commingling premiums with personal funds and misappropriation are grounds for license revocation. Georgia also requires continuing education (commonly 24 hours per two-year term, including ethics hours) and biennial renewal.
Prohibited practices candidates must recognize: rebating (offering anything of value not stated in the policy as an inducement), twisting (misrepresentation to induce replacement), churning (replacement solely to generate commission), misrepresentation, false advertising, defamation of competitors, boycott/coercion, and transacting business for an unauthorized insurer. Sharing commissions with unlicensed persons is also prohibited.
Traps
Questions blur license and appointment, or ask whether rebating is legal if the client requests it - it is not. Watch for "the Commissioner must approve all rates" (life/health often use file-and-use rather than prior approval) and for confusion between the state guaranty association (a safety net for insolvencies, not a substitute for solvency) and the Department itself.
Rule of thumb
License → appointment → solicit. Never touch a premium outside a fiduciary account.
Worked example: A producer pays a client's first premium personally to close a sale. That is a rebate and an illegal inducement even though it benefits the client; discipline can include fines and license suspension.