§ 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.