Do You Need a Pre-Licensing Course for the California Life & Health Exam? (2026)

No. Since January 1, 2026, California no longer requires a pre-licensing course to take the Life, Accident & Health exam. A 12-hour ethics and Insurance Code course is still required before the license is issued.

You can book and sit the exam without having taken any course first. Many guides online still describe the old 20-hour requirement, so check the date on anything you read.

The change comes from AB 943 (Rodriguez), Chapter 566, Statutes of 2025, signed on October 10, 2025 and effective January 1, 2026. CDI explained it in a notice dated November 10, 2025. The bill repealed the 20-hour pre-licensing course for life and for accident and health applicants. Bail agents and public adjusters still need a course.

If you read an older guide that still describes the old 20-hour requirement before the exam, it is out of date.

The 12-hour ethics and Insurance Code course (Insurance Code §1749(a)(1)) is still required, and it must be completed before the license is issued. It is not a condition for sitting the exam. It includes one hour on insurance fraud. One course covers both the Life-Only and the Accident and Health license types, and the certificate is valid for three years (§1749(c)).

The course is sold by private providers, so its price is set by the provider and is not a CDI fee. Choose a provider approved by CDI and keep the certificate.

Beyond the course, getting licensed involves these state and vendor costs:

• Exam: $55 CDI fee plus a $43 PSI convenience fee ($0 at the CDI Los Angeles site)
• Fingerprints: $74 for Live Scan (FBI $17, DOJ $32, vendor $25)
• License filing fee: $188 for a two-year term, one fee for Life and A&H together

Together that is about $360 (about $317 if you test at the CDI Los Angeles site), not counting the ethics course. See the full cost breakdown.

LanePrep is exam preparation, not a state-mandated course. It does not replace the 12-hour ethics course and it does not issue any certificate the state requires. What it does is prepare you for the exam itself: audio lessons you can play while you drive or commute, and practice questions with explanations, built around the CDI objectives.

Since no course is required, you can start studying today and book the exam when your practice scores are steady. Read what is on the exam and how hard it is, then try the free preview.