Relates to continuing education for agents, brokers, adjusters, consultants and intermediaries

Title of bill

An act to amend the insurance law, in relation to continuing education for agents, brokers, adjusters, consultants and intermediaries

Purpose

To eliminate the need for insurance agents and brokers to take duplicate continuing education courses for both their individual and agency insurance licenses.

Summary of provisions

Section 1 of the bill amends § 2132(b) of the Insurance Law to add a new section 3 that allows for renewal of the business-entity license without evidence of continuing-education credits if all entity sublicensees have a valid and appropriate insurance license as of the entity license renewal date.

Justification

Section 2132 of the New York State Insurance Law provides that a licensee must complete 15 credit hours of continuing education during each two-year licensing period. This applies to agent and broker individual licenses and to their business-entity licenses. The two-year period preceding the renewal of a business-entity license may not be the same (and generally is not the same) as the period preceding the renewal of the individual licenses of the sublicensees. As a result, the education period to comply with both the individual and entity licenses can become substantially compressed to fit in a period that is within two years of the later-dated license renewal. For some insurance agents and brokers this can mean as little as three months to complete their CE courses that apply to their multiple licenses.

The move from set expiration dates to birthdate license renewals for individual licenses dramatically increased the difficulty of negotiating and identifying appropriate bridge courses that would satisfy the 15-hour CE requirements for insurance agents who hold multiple individual and business-entity sublicenses.

This proposal would amend the continuing-education requirements to allow for renewal of the business-entity license without evidence of continuing-education credits if all entity sublicensees have a valid and appropriate insurance license as of the entity license renewal date. In return, it would be incumbent upon the business entity to assure that all sublicensees maintain valid licenses and are up to date with their CE.

Legislative history

New bill.

Fiscal implications

This proposal could result in increased revenue for the state through licensing fees by removing the financial incentive for those with multiple licenses to forego their individual insurance agent and broker licenses.

Effective date

Immediately.