Effective on September 17, 2014. The key changes made by the Act are as follows:
- The date by which insurance producers licensed in Massachusetts must complete their continuing education requirements will now be the producer’s license renewal date.
- Insurance producers must now complete a program of instruction or attend a seminar on ethics equivalent to 3 classroom hours of instruction. This new requirement, however, does not increase the overall number of continuing education credit hours an insurance producer must complete. It only requires that ethics training make up at least 3 hours of the total continuing education credits. The total number of required credit hours will remain unchanged.
- A newly licensed insurance producer must complete 60 hours of continuing education credits prior to their initial license renewal date; otherwise a licensed producer must complete 45 such credit hours during the 36-month period prior to license renewal.
Any insurance producer who fails to complete the required number of continuing education credits by their license renewal date may be subject to:
- License non-renewal or suspension pending completion of the continuing education requirement; and /or
- Monetary penalties for noncompliance with the continuing education requirements.
Individual insurance producers who fail to comply with continuing education requirements, and who are named as a member and/or designated licensed responsible producer on a business entity license in Massachusetts, may also affect the license status for that business entity.
The Division of Insurance (“Division”) recognizes that, due to the recent changes to M.G.L. c. 175, sec. 177E, some insurance producers may have a limited amount of time to comply with the continuing education requirements prior to their next renewal date. Because of this the Division has determined that any licensed insurance producer whose license is scheduled to be renewed between September 17, 2014 and December 31, 2014 shall have until January 5, 2015 to comply with the continuing education requirements. Failure to comply with the continuing education requirements by January 5, 2014 may result in the suspension of the producer’s license and /or the producer being subject to monetary penalties.
Questions regarding the new requirement can directed to the Division’s Producer Licensing Department at (617) 521-7794.