§33-12B-13. Continuing education.

(a) The purpose of this section is to provide continuing education requirements for individual adjusters under guidelines established by the commissioner’s office in conjunction with the Board of Insurance Agent Education as provided in §33-12-7 of this code.

(b) This section applies to company adjusters, independent adjusters, and public adjusters licensed pursuant to §33-12B-2 of this code.

(c) This section shall not apply to:

(1) Licensees not licensed for one full year prior to the end of the applicable continuing education biennium; or

(2) Licensees holding nonresident adjuster licenses who have met substantially similar continuing education requirements of their designated home state and whose home state gives credit to residents of this state on the same basis.

(d)(1) The Board of Insurance Agent Education as established by §33-12-7 of this code shall develop a program of continuing education for adjusters and submit the proposal for the approval of the commissioner on or before December 31 of each year. No program may be approved by the commissioner that includes a requirement that any individual adjuster complete more than 24 hours of continuing insurance education biennially.

(2) The biennium mandatory continuing education provisions of this section become effective on the reporting period beginning July 1, 2021.

(3) The commissioner and the Board of Insurance Agent Education, under standards established by the board, may approve any course or program of instruction developed or sponsored by an authorized insurer, accredited college or university, adjusters’ association, insurance trade association, or independent program of instruction that presents the criteria and the number of hours that the board and commissioner determine appropriate for the purpose of this section.

(e) An individual who holds an adjuster license and who is not exempt shall satisfactorily complete a minimum of 24 hours of continuing education courses, of which three hours must be in ethics, reported to the commissioner on a biennial basis in conjunction with their license renewal cycle.

(f) Every individual adjuster subject to the continuing education requirements shall furnish, at intervals and on forms as may be proposed by the commissioner, written certification listing the courses, programs, or seminars of instruction successfully completed by the adjuster. The certification shall be executed by, or on behalf of, the organization sponsoring the courses, programs, or seminars of instruction.

(g) Subject to the approval of the commissioner, the active annual membership by an adjuster in an organization or association recognized and approved by the commissioner as a state, regional, or national professional insurance organization or association may be approved by the commissioner for up to two hours of continuing insurance education: Provided, That not more than two hours of continuing education may be awarded to an adjuster for membership in a professional insurance organization during a biennial reporting period.

(h) Adjusters who exceed the minimum continuing education requirement for the biennial reporting period may carry over a maximum of six credit hours only into the next reporting period.

(i) Any individual adjuster failing to meet the requirements mandated in this section and who has not been granted an extension of time with respect to the requirements, or who has submitted to the commissioner a false or fraudulent certificate of compliance, shall have his or her license automatically suspended and no further license may be issued to the person until the person demonstrates to the satisfaction of the commissioner that he or she has complied with all of the requirements mandated by this section and all other applicable laws or rules.

(j) The commissioner shall notify the individual adjuster of his or her suspension pursuant to §33-12B-13(i) of this code by electronic mail or regular mail, if requested, to the last respective address on file with the commissioner pursuant to §33-12B-14(a) of this code. Any individual insurance adjuster who has had a suspension notice entered against him or her pursuant to this section may, within 30 calendar days of receipt of the notice, file with the commissioner a request for a hearing for reconsideration of the matter.

(k) Any individual adjuster who does not satisfactorily demonstrate compliance with this section and all other laws applicable thereto as of the last day of the biennium following his or her suspension shall have his or her license automatically terminated and is subject to the licensing and examination requirements of §33-12B-5 of this code.

(l) The commissioner is authorized to hire personnel and make reasonable expenditures considered necessary for purposes of establishing and maintaining a system of continuing education for adjusters. The commissioner shall charge a fee of $25 to continuing education providers for each continuing education course submitted for approval which shall be used to maintain the continuing education system. The commissioner may, at his or her discretion, designate an outside administrator to provide all of or part of the administrative duties of the continuing education system subject to direction and approval by the commissioner. The fees charged by the outside administrator shall be paid by the continuing education providers. In addition to fees charged by the outside administrator, the outside administrator shall collect and remit to the commissioner the $25 course submission fee.