California Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner is cutting the insurance license renewal fee charged to the state’s 300,000 insurance agents, brokers and adjusters.

The fee will drop from $144 to $135, cutting $3.5 million in fees collected, beginning July 1. Poizner, who took office in January 2007, said he wants to help the many small business owners who sell insurance in these recession-weary days.

In California, the insurance commissioner is empowered, without legislative approval, to raise or lower fees by as much as 10%, which is what Poizner’s predecessors did in 1999, 2002 and 2004. A 5% increase occurred in 2002.

Other states’ insurance commissioners should attempt to match or exceed Poizner’s cuts as a show of understanding and appreciation of the challenges facing many insurance agents, brokers and agency owners. If it requires legislative approval in some states, then insurance commissioners should lead that charge as well.