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What a license and permit bond is

A license and permit bond is a surety bond that a city, county, or state agency requires before it will issue or keep a license or a permit. The California Department of Insurance glossary defines a surety bond as a bond in which the surety agrees to answer to the obligee for the non-performance of the principal. The same glossary defines the obligee as the person the bond protects and the principal as the person whose obligation the bond guarantees. Civil Code section 2787 is the underlying promise: a surety answers for someone else's default. The three roles are on the surety bond page.

It is not the bid bond in that glossary, and it is not general liability. The penal sum is not a premium. Any dollar figure is the one the issuing agency prints on its statute or bond form. This page does not add a number. The CSLB contractor license bond is one license bond, on its own page. CDI's instructions for license-applicant bonds list bonds the Insurance Code requires, including the surplus line broker bond under section 1765.

Miscellaneous, in everyday talk, means this non-contract group. CDI's miscellaneous insurance is a different class: Insurance Code section 120. That class is not a license bond. Start the file on the surety bonds page.

Updated October 14, 2026. Insurance City Agency, LLC · CA License #6003045. Reviewed by Santo Militello, California-licensed Property & Casualty agent (CA License #1737723). Our licensed team brings more than 70 years of combined insurance experience. Phone: (209) 670-1556. Office: 956 W Robinhood Dr, Stockton, CA 95207.

Questions

Who sets the amount of a license or permit bond?

The public agency that requires the bond. The figure on its statute or bond form is the penal sum. This page does not add a dollar amount.

Is a license bond the same thing as general liability?

No. CDI defines a surety bond as the surety's promise to answer to the obligee for the principal's non-performance. That is not a liability policy, and the penal sum is not a premium.

Is the CSLB contractor bond one of these bonds?

Yes. It is one license bond, with its own glossary page. The obligee and the filing rules are CSLB's. Read that page for the statute.

What does miscellaneous mean here?

People use miscellaneous for non-contract surety bonds such as license and permit bonds. CDI's miscellaneous insurance, Insurance Code section 120, is a different class. It is not a license bond.

Sources

CDI glossary, surety and bonds (insurance.ca.gov, checked October 14, 2026). Surety bond, obligee, principal, and bid bond. Miscellaneous insurance on the same glossary is Insurance Code section 120, a different class.
Civil Code section 2787. A surety promises to answer for another's default.
Insurance Code section 120. Miscellaneous insurance. Not a license bond.
CDI instructions for surety bonds required of certain license applicants (revised April 2017). Lists license bonds the Insurance Code requires, including the surplus line broker bond under section 1765.