NU Online News Service, Dec. 26, 11:58 a.m. ?- The California Department of Insurance says it is beefing up fingerprint requirements for insurance producer license applications.
Non-residents who want to apply for producer licenses after Jan. 1, 2002, will first have to submit fingerprints.
A private company, Sylvan/Indentix, Springfield, Ill., will compare applicant fingerprints with prints stored in state and federal databases, to see whether applicants have criminal records that could keep them from holding producer licenses.
The California department required all applicants to file fingerprints starting in 1980, but officials say the department suspended the requirement for out-of-state applicants in 1988, mainly because of the difficulty of getting access to a useful database of out-of-state fingerprints.
