California Insurance Agent Continuing Education and License Renewal Requirements

General Requirements

California Major Lines Licensed Agents must complete 24 Credit Hours of Approved Continuing Education every 2 years and Renew their License prior to their Expiration Date to Keep their License active. Agents cannot receive credits for the same courses taken within the same 2 year license cycle.

At least 3 of the 24 credit hours must be approved for Ethics Training.

Major Lines License Types include:

1. Life
2. Accident and Health
3. Property
4. Casualty
5. Personal Lines

California CE Requirements are “License Type Specific.” Agents must take courses in the subject matter they are licensed in and as long as:

1. They are approved by the California Department of Insurance
2. At least 3 credit hours are approved for Ethics Training

Agents holding Multiple Lines of Licenses (ex. Life and Health and Property and Casualty) only have to meet the requirements for at least one of their License Types held. You do not need to take courses for every License Type for which you hold a license (except for special training requirements such as Annuity, LTC, or Homeowners Valuation). In other words, if you are licensed in Multiple Lines, you can receive credit for courses in any of the License Types for which you hold a license.

Continuing Education and Renewal Requirements must be completed every 2 years, on or before your Expiration Date, which is the last day of the original month of licensure.

Exemptions

Agents licensed consecutively for 30 years or more without any disciplinary action and 70 years of age or older which were originally licensed prior to January 1, 2010 are exempt from the continuing education requirement.

*Any agent exempt from their general CE Requirements must fulfill the Annuity Training requirements and/or the Long Term Care Training requirements if either of the products are still sold by the agent.

Special Training Requirements

Property and Casualty Agents

Flood Training

Agents licensed in the Property line of authority that will be selling Flood Insurance must complete a one-time, 3 Hour continuing education course related to NFIP (National Flood Insurance Program).

Homeowners Insurance Valuation Training

On or after June 27, 2011, prior to estimating the replacement value of structures or explaining the various levels of coverage under a homeowners’ insurance policy, California resident agents and brokers who have not previously completed the homeowners’ insurance valuation training, must do so.

Life and Health Agents

Annuity Training

Any agent who sells, solicits or negotiates an Annuity Product must complete a one-time, initial 8 Hour Annuity Suitability course prior to selling. Agents must also complete ongoing training consisting of a 4 Hour Training Course every compliance period following. The 8 hour annuity training course will not satisfy the 4 hour annuity training requirement.

Long Term Care

An agent may not sell, solicit or negotiate a Long-Term Care product unless the individual has completed an initial 8 Hour Long Term Care training course. After completing the initial 8-hour training requirement, agents licensed 4 years or less must complete 8 hours of state-approved LTC training annually for the first 4 years of licensure. Agents licensed more than 4 years must complete 8 hours of state-approved LTC training in every 2-year license term.

Additional Continuing Education Information

Carryover Credits

• Excess credits may be carried forward to the next filing period. Excess Ethics Training or Other Special Training Courses carry over as a General Credit Only.

Renewal Guidelines

Your License is Eligible for Renewal during your “License Renewal Period”. The License Renewal Period for California Licensed Agents begins 90 Days prior to their Expiration Date. There are 2 Options for Renewing your license:

1. Online through NIPR, located here: CA Agent Renewal (NIPR)
2. Online through Vertafore (Sircon): CA Agent Renewal (Sircon)