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Continuing Education Requirement Updates

Ethics Training

Pursuant to Senate Bill 66 (SB 66), passed during the 2007 Missouri Legislative Session, effective January 1, 2008, requires that the courses or programs attended by the producer during each two-year period shall include instruction on Missouri law, products offered in any line of authority in which the producer is qualified, producers’ duties and obligations to the department, and business ethics, including suitability.  As such, producers licensed for at least one of the major lines of authority must complete three hours of continuing education deemed approved by the department in the aforementioned areas.  Pursuant to 20 CSR 700-3.200(2), the department will begin verifying licensed producers’ compliance with this mandate for all licenses that expire January 1, 2009.  All producers whose licenses expire January 1, 2009 or later will be required to complete at least three hours of continuing education in a class approved as meeting this requirement.  A list of classes approved as meeting these subject matter criteria may be found on the department’s Web site and are labeled Ethics/Suitability, Missouri Law and Duties/Obligations to the Department.  The class numbers will have an “EL” prefix.  Class queries may be run at https://sbs-mo.naic.org/Lion-Web/jsp/extcelookup/ProviderLookup.jsp   The three hours required by this rule will count towards the producer’s total required sixteen hours.

Increased Number of Continuing Education Credit Hours

Pursuant to Senate Bill 66 (SB 66), passed during the 2007 Missouri Legislative Session, effective January 1, 2008, all insurance producers (agents) licensed with the department were required to complete sixteen hours of continuing education biennially before license renewal.  SB 66 states in §375.020.1, “…Any person licensed to act as an insurance producer shall, during each two years, attend courses or programs of instruction or attend seminars equivalent to a minimum of sixteen hours of instruction...”  Previous Missouri law pertaining to the same required that insurance producers complete ten hours of continuing education every two years if holding a life and health license or a property and casualty license, or sixteen hours if licensed in both lines.  This legislation requires that all Missouri-licensed insurance producers licensed in at least one of the six major lines of authority (Life, Health, Property, Casualty, Variable Contracts, and Personal Lines) complete sixteen hours of continuing education, unless otherwise exempt from educational requirements under §375.020.5, RSMo.  Producers licensed for multiple lines of authority are not required to divide the educational hours evenly between the lines of authority in which qualified.

This legislation also mandates that all qualified excess hours earned as continuing education accumulated during any two-year period may be carried forward to the two-year period immediately following the two-year period in which the course, program, or seminar was held.  Missouri statutes previously stated that only classroom hours may be carried over.

Provisions of SB 66 also give the department authority to designate, by regulation, courses of study as part of other professional designations that may be deemed to meet the department Director’s standards for continuing educational requirements.  Important: courses as part of a professional designation study program must be approved by the department for CE compliance prior to licensees’ reliance upon course to fulfill the CE requirements.

Qualified Long-term Care Insurance Policies

Among the provisions of Senate Bill 577 (SB 577), the “Missouri Long-term Care Partnership Program Act” was established and will be administered by the Missouri Department of Social Services in conjunction with the Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration (DIFP).  The program is designed to:

• Provide incentives for individuals to insure against the cost of providing for their long-term care needs;
• Provide a mechanism for individuals to qualify for coverage of the cost of their long-term care needs under the Missouri HeathNet program without first being required to substantially exhaust their resources; and
• Alleviate the financial burden to the Missouri HeathNet program by encouraging the pursuit of private initiatives.

SB 577 requires that the DIFP director develop requirements to ensure that any individual who sells a qualified long-term care insurance partnership policy receives training and demonstrates evidence of an understanding of such policies and how they relate to other public and private coverage of long-term care.  As such, the DIFP director will author regulations establishing guidelines for training and a standard of continuing education for licensed insurance producers who sell qualified long-term care policies.  Qualified long-term care policies are those that are approved and certified by the DIFP director as meeting the requirements of:

• The National Association of Insurance Commissioners’ Long-term Care Insurance Model Act and Regulation as specified in 42 U.S.C. 1917(b); and
• The provisions of Section 6021 of the Federal Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.

With the passage of this law, licensed insurance producers selling, soliciting, or negotiating Qualified Long-term Care Partnership Policies must receive training regarding such policies and demonstrate an evidence of an understanding of the policies.  Those producers will be required to complete eight (8) hours of initial basic training specific to Partnership policies before selling such policies and receive at least four (4) hours of continuing education regarding such policies during each two-year renewal period thereafter.  That training and continuing education must be received via classes pre-approved by the DIFP as meeting the requirements for sufficient content.

Continuing Education Requirement for Title Producers

Senate Bill 66 (SB 66) includes revised statutes to be known as the “Missouri Title Insurance Act.”  Among other mandates included in this act, producers licensed for the title insurance line of authority shall, during each two years (initial two-year period beginning January 1, 2008), be required to attend courses or programs of instruction or attend seminars equivalent to a minimum of eight (8) hours of instruction.  Those courses or programs of instruction which shall meet the standards for continuing educational requirements shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• A real property law or title insurance-related course taught by an accredited college or university or qualified instructor who has taught a course of real property or title insurance law at such institution;
• A course or program of instruction or seminar approved by the Department director developed or sponsored by an authorized insurer, recognized agents’ association, title insurance trade organization, or appropriate private provider.  A local agents’ group may also be approved if the instructor receives no compensation for services; and
• Course approved for continuing legal credit (CLE) by the Missouri Bar Association.

Questions

Questions regarding the continuing education provisions of this legislation may be directed to the Licensing Section of the department by e-mailing at licensing@insurance.mo.gov, or by calling (573) 751-3518.  For lists of continuing education classes and providers, visit: https://sbs-mo.naic.org/Lion-Web/jsp/extcelookup/ProviderLookup.jsp