Division of Resource Administration
Rochelle Hendrickson, Director
The Division of Resource Administration includes licensing, budget, support services, information systems and personnel.
Licensing
The Licensing Section reviews and processes applications from individuals and agencies for licenses to transact insurance business in Missouri.
| License Type | New Licenses | Renewed Licenses |
|---|---|---|
| Agents | 21,010 | 29,192 |
| Brokers | 463 | 3,722 |
| Agencies | 1,187 | 5,025 |
| Surplus lines brokers | 102 | 241 |
| Public adjusters | 2 | 36 |
| Public adjuster solicitors | 2 | 13 |
| General bail bond agents | 16 | 65 |
| Bail bond agents | 223 | 655 |
| General bail bond corporations | 17 | 35 |
| Transaction Type | Number |
|---|---|
| Certification letters issued to licensees applying in other states | 28,736 |
| Clearance letters issued to licensees moving to another state | 465 |
| Electronic company appointments received and processed | 134,045 |
| Electronic company terminations received and processed | 106,733 |
| Insurance examinations administered by contract | 12,703 |
As of Dec. 31, 2002, the following total numbers were licensed:
| License Type | Number of Licensees |
|---|---|
| Agents | 94,054 |
| Brokers | 7,113 |
| Agencies | 11,146 |
| Surplus lines brokers | 317 |
| Public adjusters | 37 |
| Public adjuster solicitors | 15 |
| General bail bond agents | 85 |
| Bail bond agents | 874 |
| General bail bond corporations | 42 |
During 2002, the Licensing Section handled 55,085 phone inquiries from the public, industry, other state insurance departments and other state agencies.
Eventually, the terms "agent" and "broker" will vanish because new laws require only one "producer" license for persons selling insurance.
Budget
The fiscal year 2002 appropriation for the Missouri Department of Insurance was $14.8 million. The department receives no general revenue support.
Of the total budget, $6.9 million was financed by the Insurance Dedicated Fund, through licensing and other user fees; $7.5 million from the Insurance Examiners Fund, through billings to audited insurers; and up to $450,000 from a federal grant by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for senior insurance counseling provided under contract with the not-for-profit CLAIM Program.
Support services
The Support Services Section administers the receipt and spending of state funds along with the support functions. These support functions include accounts payable, accounts receivable, procurement, mailroom and storeroom, inventory and the department fleet.
About $31.3 million was collected in calendar 2002 for filing fees, licensing fees, regulatory fees, excess lines of insurance, forfeitures (fines), examiner billings and assessments, and miscellaneous receipts.
| Revenue Source | Revenues |
|---|---|
| Total: | $31,250,754 |
| Agent license | $4,411,340 |
| Producer | 158,860 |
| Broker license | 449,185 |
| Other license and permits | 940,845 |
| Certification and clearance letters | 586,380 |
| Regulatory fees and miscellaneous receipts | 1,850,929 |
| Filing fees | 760,725 |
| Excess lines insurance tax | 13,045,239 |
| State school money | 1,171,235 |
| Other refunds | 55,516 |
| Examiners fund | 7,790,994 |
| Federal grant | 9,660 |
| Other miscellaneous receipts | 1,218 |
| Surplus property sales | 131 |
| Unclaimed property | 4,571 |
| State refund | 13,926 |
Information systems
The Information Systems Section establishes and supports systems, services, policies, procedures and rules on computer and other technologies that help users throughout the department.
The section also conducts traditional data processing tasks, including security for providing a mainframe and mini computers, local-area networks, and wide-area networks supporting more than 200 employees.
Recent accomplishments include:
- Providing insurance consumers a new Internet tool to look up an insurance company by name, type, status, admission date or domicile state and an Internet-based Insurance forum that invites comments on insurance issues, such as medical malpractice and homeowners issues.
- Providing insurance producers and companies new Internet access to continuing education course listings and providers and checklists for property and casualty, life and health and managed care companies to help ensure their Missouri filings are complete.
- Rewriting obsolete systems such as medical malpractice forms filing, premium tax filing and tax credit calculation and title plant tracking systems. These refurbished systems promise improved data accuracy and productivity with electronic links to the Department of Revenue and Department of Economic Development systems. Planned enhancements will allow insurance companies to complete their premium tax forms on-line.
- Implementation of a single insurance producer license to replace the former agent and broker licenses. These efforts will improve licensing to meet national standards and satisfy federal requirements in the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.
- Continued education and training of Insurance employees using computer-based training. During the year, almost every Insurance employee received training by way of the Internet.
Personnel
The Personnel Section administers employee pay and benefits, develops and implements employee policies and procedures, recruits applicants and trains employees.
Although Insurance is not a state "merit-system" agency, department employees have titles and salaries based on a statewide classification and pay system under which job classifications are assigned to pay grids. In 2002, computer based training was made available to all employees of the agency.
State employees receive a benefit package valued at an additional 40 percent of their salary. Benefits include state-subsidized health insurance, dental and vision insurance, life insurance, disability insurance and workers compensation coverage. After five years of employment with the state, employees become vested in a defined benefit retirement plan. Employees earn sick and annual leave each pay period and are paid for 12 annual holidays. Employees can participate in an invested deferred compensation plan. The state also offers a cafeteria plan for tax-free reimbursement of medical and daycare expenses.
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