Virginia's Insurance Exam State Law Section: The High-Priority Topics That Decide Your Score

The Virginia state law section is where prepared candidates become licensed and underprepared candidates schedule retakes. It is the section most often underestimated, most often under-studied, and most often responsible for failing an otherwise adequate exam performance. The P&C exam has 35 scored state law questions; the L/A/H exam has 40. In both cases, you must hit 70% on this section independently — 25 correct out of 35 for P&C, 28 correct out of 40 for L/A/H. This post identifies the high-priority topics within the state law section by exam line and gives you the framework for mastering each of them before exam day.

Why the State Law Section Is Different

The national section of the Virginia exam tests insurance products, principles, and federal rules that are the same everywhere. Study materials for the national section are widely available, generally accurate, and interchangeable across states. The state law section tests the specific statutes of the Code of Virginia, the administrative rules of the SCC Bureau of Insurance, and Virginia-specific coverage rules that differ from other states. Candidates who study national content heavily and treat state law as an afterthought regularly discover on exam day that they scored 80% on the national section and 62% on state law — and failed.

The state law section rewards candidates who read the source material. Virginia's insurance statutes are available at law.lis.virginia.gov under Title 38.2. They are readable, organized, and authoritative. Questions are drawn from the statute — not from a textbook's interpretation of the statute. Reading the relevant chapters directly is the single highest-leverage state law preparation action available.

The SCC Bureau of Insurance: Virginia's Unique Regulatory Structure

Why it matters: Every state law question that references "the regulator" or "the department" in Virginia answers differently than in most states. Virginia's insurance regulator is the Bureau of Insurance within the State Corporation Commission (SCC) — not a standalone Department of Insurance with a Commissioner who is a cabinet-level officer. This distinction appears in multiple questions.

What to know:

The SCC is established by Article IX of the Virginia Constitution — it has constitutional authority, not just statutory authority

The Bureau of Insurance operates under the SCC as a specialized bureau

The insurance statutes are in Title 38.2 of the Code of Virginia

The SCC has jurisdiction over producer licensing, market conduct, company solvency, and consumer complaints

The phrase "the Commission" in Virginia insurance law refers to the SCC, not a commissioner

Virginia Auto Insurance Law: The Highest-Testing Topic in P&C State Law

Three years of rapid legislative change have made Virginia auto insurance law one of the most heavily tested and frequently updated state law topics. Know every change:

July 1, 2023 — UIM Stacking (Va. Code § 38.2-2206): Virginia's UIM coverage now pays in addition to the at-fault driver's liability coverage, rather than being offset by it. Under the old rule: if you had $100,000 UIM and the at-fault driver had $50,000 in liability, your UIM only paid $50,000 (the difference). Under the new rule: UIM stacks on top — you can collect $50,000 from the at-fault driver's liability policy and $100,000 from your own UIM policy, for $150,000 total. This is a pro-consumer change that carriers initially tried to get policyholders to opt out of through written waivers. Default rule: stacking applies unless the policyholder explicitly rejects it in writing.

July 1, 2024 — Insurance Mandatory: Virginia eliminated the option to pay a $500 DMV fee to register an uninsured vehicle. All Virginia drivers must now carry auto liability insurance meeting minimum coverage requirements. Driving without insurance triggers: driver's license and registration suspension, $600 fine, $145 reinstatement fee, and mandatory SR-22 filing for 3 years.

January 1, 2025 — New Minimums (Va. Code § 46.2-472): Minimum liability coverage increased from 30/60/20 to 50/100/25.

$50,000 bodily injury per person

$100,000 bodily injury per accident

$25,000 property damage UM/UIM must equal these minimums. FR-44 (DUI conviction) requires double: 100/200/50.

Virginia Workers' Compensation: The Key Facts for P&C State Law

Virginia's workers' comp market has distinct features tested on the P&C exam:

Competitive private market — no exclusive state fund

Employer threshold: Coverage required when any employer has 3 or more employees in most industries (lower than many states)

Penalty for non-compliance: Up to $5,000 per 10-day period without required coverage + personal liability for corporate officers/directors

Administered by: The Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission (separate from the Bureau of Insurance — a critical distinction for exam questions about jurisdiction)

Exclusive remedy: Workers' comp is the exclusive remedy against the employer (injured workers cannot sue the employer in civil court for job injuries in most circumstances)

Producer Licensing Rules in Virginia: Both Sections Test This

Both the P&C and L/A/H state law sections test Virginia's producer licensing framework:

Unfair Trade Practices: What Virginia Law Prohibits

Virginia's unfair trade practices statute (Title 38.2, Chapter 13) is tested in both the P&C and L/A/H state law sections. The key prohibited acts:

Misrepresentation: Making false or misleading statements about policy terms, benefits, dividends, or the financial condition of any insurer.

Rebating: Giving or offering anything of value as an inducement to purchase insurance that is not specified in the policy. Receiving a rebate is also prohibited for the purchaser.

Twisting: Inducing a policyholder to lapse, forfeit, change, or surrender existing insurance by misrepresenting the existing policy's terms or benefits — and replacing it with a new policy.

Unfair claim settlement practices: Failing to acknowledge claims promptly, failing to investigate claims within a reasonable time, offering unjustly low settlements, delaying payment without reasonable basis. These are tested in both lines.

Virginia-Specific Life and Health Law (L/A/H Exam)

For the L/A/H state law section, additional priority topics include:

Replacement regulations: When replacing existing life insurance, the producer must provide the applicant with a comparison document (the "Notice to Applicant Regarding Replacement"). The replacing insurer must notify the existing insurer. The 10-day free-look period (30 days for LTC and Medicare supplement) must be disclosed.

Virginia health insurance statutes: Small employer health insurance requirements (employers with 2–50 employees). Virginia mini-COBRA: continuing coverage rights for employees of small employers who lose group coverage. Mental health parity requirements. Children's coverage to age 26. Get Covered Virginia as the state ACA marketplace.

LTC Partnership program: Producers must complete the 8-hour initial training (6 hours general LTC + 2 hours Virginia Partnership-specific) before selling Partnership LTC policies. After the initial training, 4-hour ongoing training every 24 months. A Virginia LTC Partnership policy protects assets equal to the policy's total lifetime benefit from Medicaid spend-down — a consumer benefit that makes Virginia's LTC Partnership test questions appear in both the product section and the Virginia law section.

Annuity Best Interest: One-time 4-hour training required before selling any annuity products in Virginia. This is Virginia's adoption of the NAIC 2020 Annuity Model Law best-interest framework. Producers who completed annuity suitability training in a state that has adopted the NAIC 2020 model satisfy the Virginia requirement.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many state law questions must I answer correctly to pass the Virginia P&C exam state law section?

The Virginia P&C state law section has 35 scored questions. To pass at 70%, you need at least 25 correct answers. To pass at exactly 70%: 24.5 — so 25 correct is the minimum. There are also 10 pretest questions distributed throughout the 145-question exam — these do not affect your state law section score. The 35 scored state law questions are mixed throughout the exam alongside the 100 national questions, so you cannot segregate them by position. Your score report after the exam will show your state law section score separately, so you will know exactly how you performed if you need to retake.

Is Virginia's contributory negligence doctrine tested on both the P&C and L/A/H state law sections?

Contributory negligence is primarily a P&C state law topic — it affects auto liability, premises liability, and general liability claims, which are P&C products. It appears in the P&C state law section. The L/A/H state law section does not typically test contributory negligence as a standalone topic, though it may appear tangentially in the context of disability income claims (occupational vs. non-occupational injury definitions). For P&C candidates, pure contributory negligence is one of the most important Virginia-specific distinctions to understand — Virginia is one of only four states using this doctrine, and its application is meaningfully different from comparative fault states.

Are the Virginia auto insurance minimum limits (50/100/25) tested as multiple specific questions, or just general awareness?

The new minimums are tested in multiple specific ways on the P&C state law section. You should expect questions about: the specific limit amounts (50/100/25), when they became effective (January 1, 2025), how UM/UIM coverage must track the liability minimums (both must equal 50/100/25), what happens to policies issued before January 1, 2025 (they must be updated at renewal), the FR-44 requirement for DUI convictions (100/200/50), the SR-22 requirement for other violations, and the consequences of driving without insurance (introduced as a mandatory requirement July 1, 2024). This cluster of related rules frequently generates 5–8 questions in the P&C state law section — it is worth knowing every detail precisely.

What is the difference between twisting and churning in Virginia insurance law?

Both are unfair trade practice violations under Title 38.2 of the Code of Virginia. Twisting involves inducing a policyholder to lapse, surrender, or replace existing insurance by misrepresenting the terms or benefits of the existing policy — the producer misleads the client about what they currently have in order to replace it with something new (from which the producer earns a first-year commission). Churning is the practice of repeatedly replacing policies within the same insurer's product line or within the same agent's book — replacing a policyholder's own policy primarily for the purpose of generating new commissions, often without materially benefiting the policyholder. Both are prohibited under Virginia law and both generate exam questions. The distinction: twisting involves misrepresentation about the replaced policy; churning involves repeated replacement for commission motivation regardless of misrepresentation.

How important is the Virginia insurance guaranty association to the state law exam?

The Virginia Life, Accident and Sickness Insurance Guaranty Association (for life and health) and the Virginia Property and Casualty Insurance Guaranty Association (for P&C) both protect policyholders when licensed insurers become insolvent. The state law section typically includes 1–2 questions about guaranty associations — the types of policies covered, the coverage limits, and importantly, what is NOT covered (surplus lines policies are not covered by the guaranty associations, a frequently tested exclusion). Knowing the basic structure: guaranty associations are funded by assessments on licensed insurers, they cover most (but not all) types of insurance policies up to statutory limits, and they do not protect against company insolvency where the company is not licensed/admitted in Virginia.

The Virginia state law section is winnable with the right targeted preparation. Prioritize auto insurance law, producer licensing rules, unfair trade practices, and the SCC's regulatory structure — these four areas consistently generate the majority of state law questions on both exams.

Visit JustInsurance to enroll today and master the Virginia-specific content that decides whether you pass on your first attempt.