Who
must comply?
The law concerning mandatory continuing education requirements applies
to virtually all licensed insurance agents, brokers and consultants,
whether resident licensees or non-resident licensees. It is found
in Section 2132 of the Insurance Law.
Are
long time licensees "grandfathered"?
No, there is no "grandfather" clause in the law exempting
persons who have been licensed for a given number of years, and the
Department has signaled that it does not intend to grant an exemption
based on years of licensure.
Are
there any exemptions?
Specifically exempted are licenses for which no written examination
is required (such as for fraternal benefit agents and ticket agents
selling travel-related insurance-baggage, trip A&H, etc.). Also exempted
are holders of limited licenses (such as the employees of rental car
companies).
The
Superintendent is given the discretion to exempt other licenses as
deemed appropriate. Non-resident licensees may be able to qualify
through reciprocity agreements if the CE requirements of their state
are equivalent to New York's.
How
much CE is required?
The law requires licensees to complete 15 credit hours of instruction
for each license held, during the biennial licensing period applicable
to that license. This means that holders of multiple licenses will
be required to obtain fifteen credit hours toward each license during
staggered, but overlapping, two-year periods.
There
is a provision in the law for licensees to use accumulated CE credits
to meet the requirements of similar classes of licenses, specifically
for holders of both a life agent license and a life consultant license;
or for holders of a property-casualty agent license, a brokers license
and a general consultant license.
The
NYS Insurance Department requires 100 percent attendance to receive
CE credits. Attendees must arrive on time and remain for the entire
seminar.
Limits
on some courses
Some courses of instruction will count toward licensees CE requirements
on an unrestricted basis.
The
Insurance Department assigns approval numbers to every course approved
for CE credits. This number is four letters followed by a six-digit
number. Courses are coded:
**Important
news regarding "NYCL" course approval numbers:
Effective
immediately, any and all NYS approved classroom and speech/seminar
courses will be eligible for use in satisfying the 50% classroom instruction
requirement when renewing Agent, Broker, Consultant and Public Adjuster
insurance licenses. The Department has eliminated the "CL"
designation - going forward all applications submitted as classroom
or speech seminar courses will be approved as CR courses only. Any
courses currently approved with the CL designation will be accepted
as CR courses at the time of license renewal. Please refer anyone
with questions or concerns to the Department at 518-474-6630 or coned@ins.state.ny.us*
The credits for and CS courses may constitute no more than 50 percent
of your total required credits.
When
do I need to comply?
That depends on the license(s) you hold. You must take a course during
the two-year licensing period to apply it to the renewal of the license.
An exception is made if you have used the CE credit to renew a similar
license earlier in the year; in this case you may "carry forward"
CE credits that were taken before the start of the second licensing
period.
