New Georgia Regs Would End ‘Half Credits’ for Some Insurance License Courses *Centurion Insurance AFS*

The Georgia insurance commissioner’s office will hold a hearing April 15 on proposed changes to continuing education regulations for insurance agents.

The new rules would bring Georgia in line with industry best practices and would end the practice of giving only “half-credits” for some correspondence courses, but would still limit credit hours to 24 for in-person classes and to 12 hours for online courses.

Part of the current regulation reads: “In determining the amount of credit to be allowed for specific correspondence and individual study courses, each course provider must certify the hours of study, on the average, required to complete a course successfully. Credit will be given for fifty percent (50%) of hours so certified upon certification of successful completion.”

The new rule would delete the last sentence, on the 50% credit.

The regulation also would add:

“…Online courses must require frequent interaction with courseware as a condition of progressing through the material with quizzes offered after chapters or sections to provide learning feedback… In determining the amount of credit to be allowed for specific online courses, each course provider must certify the hours of study, on the average, required to complete a course successfully… Credit will be allowed in the renewal period in which the course is completed.”

“Continuing Education courses will not be approved for more than 24 hours for class attendance courses or 12 hours for any self-study or online course,” the proposed rules read.

The changes also would require course providers to keep all materials, applications and completion rosters for at least 24 months after a course has been made inactive. Other proposed regulations can be found here.

The hearing will begin at 9 a.m. in the hearing room at the commissioner’s office, ninth floor, West Tower of the Floyd Building in Atlanta. Written comments will be accepted until April 8, and can be sent to Jeremy Betts, Administrative Procedure Division, Office of Commissioner of Insurance, 704 West Tower, Floyd Building, Two Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive, Atlanta, GA 30334.

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Georgia