The Department of Banking and Insurance formally published proposed amendments to the state’s insurance producer continuing-education regulation earlier this week. Under the proposed amendments to N.J.A.C. 11:17-3.6 would:

• allow producers to carry over up to 12 CE credits into a new licensing term;
• allow producers to use one insurance-fraud credit hour toward professional ethics requirements; and
• give CE instructors twice the approved credit hours for the courses they teach.

Currently, producers are required to earn 24 CE credits every two years. However, they are prohibited from carrying over any extra CE credits that they earned into a new licensing term. Any extra credits that the producer earned simply disappear. This discourages producers from taking additional CE courses, since there is no tangible benefit beyond the general pursuit of knowledge.

PIANJ’s advocacy

These amendments have been a long time in the making. PIANJ and representatives of the DOBI met in 2020 to discuss whether to allow producers to carry over a certain number of CE credits into a new licensing period. The association argued that producers always should be encouraged to educate themselves.

Since then, PIANJ has worked closely with the DOBI to craft amendments that would appropriately reward producers for their efforts to educate themselves. The publication of the amendments is the result of that work.

Now starts a 60-day comment period during which the public is encouraged to weigh in on the amendments.