Georgia’s Office of Commissioner of Insurance has announced a public hearing on proposed continuing education (CE) regulation updates for insurance agents. If adopted, the changes would directly affect how CE credit is calculated for certain correspondence/individual study courses, and they would add clearer expectations for online course design and provider record retention.
For CE students and agency compliance leads, the practical question is simple: what do you need to do differently this renewal cycle to avoid surprises? Below is a workflow-focused breakdown tied to how CE is planned, completed, and tracked.
1) What Georgia is proposing (and why it matters operationally)
The proposal is intended to align Georgia with industry best practices and would remove the current “half-credit” approach applied to some correspondence/individual study courses. Under existing language, providers certify average hours needed to complete a correspondence/individual study course, but only 50% of those certified hours are credited when the student completes the course. The proposed rule would delete that 50% limitation.
At the same time, the proposal keeps key structural limits in place: approved CE hours would remain capped at 24 hours for classroom attendance courses and 12 hours for any self-study or online course.
Why this matters: many CE plans are built by “hours math.” If the crediting method changes, your plan—especially if you rely on self-study formats—may need to be recalculated so you’re not over- or under-building your renewal schedule.
2) Training implications for CE compliance (crediting, timing, and online course design)
Three parts of the proposal have immediate training/compliance implications:
- Credit calculation: eliminating half-credits could make certain correspondence/individual study completions “count” more cleanly toward a renewal requirement (depending on final adoption and how the course is approved).
- Credit timing: the proposal clarifies that credit is applied in the renewal period when the course is completed. That means your completion date—and how quickly credits post—becomes even more important for deadline planning.
- Online course structure: online courses would be required to include frequent interaction with courseware and quizzes after chapters or sections to provide learning feedback. For students, expect more check-ins and knowledge checks; for managers, expect more consistent completion signals (and fewer “I’ll just click through later” patterns).
Even if you’re not a course provider, these design requirements can change the learner experience and the time it takes to finish a course—so build your CE calendar with realistic completion time, not wishful thinking.
3) What CE students should do this week (a practical renewal plan)
If you’re a Georgia licensee completing CE, use this short execution plan to reduce renewal risk:
- Rebuild your hours plan by format: separate your intended CE into (a) classroom/live hours and (b) self-study/online hours so you stay within the stated caps (24 classroom; 12 self-study/online). Don’t assume you can “make it up” with extra online hours if you’re behind.
- Schedule backward from your renewal deadline: set an internal completion date at least 2–3 weeks before your real deadline to allow for course completion, reporting, and any fixes if something doesn’t post as expected.
- Expect quizzes and interaction: if you prefer self-study, block time for section quizzes and active engagement. Treat it like a closed-loop learning cycle: complete a section, take the quiz, and immediately review misses before moving on.
- Keep your completion evidence organized: save completion confirmations and course details in one folder (digital is fine). If you ever need to reconcile what posted, you’ll want a clean paper trail.
Where TSI National fits: if you’re balancing CE with production demands, a structured course path (with built-in feedback checks) is usually faster than trying to patch together hours at the last minute.
4) What managers and compliance leads should update (tracking, controls, and vendor oversight)
If you manage producers or oversee CE compliance, these proposed changes are a prompt to tighten your process controls—especially if your team uses self-study or online CE heavily.
- Update your CE tracker fields: add columns for delivery type (classroom vs self-study/online), completion date, and renewal period. The proposed clarification about applying credit in the period of completion makes date accuracy non-negotiable.
- Set an internal deadline ahead of the regulatory deadline: standardize a “CE due to manager” date (e.g., 15 business days before renewal) so you have time to resolve posting issues.
- Audit self-study reliance vs caps: if a producer’s plan is mostly online/self-study, confirm they can still meet requirements within the 12-hour cap for that format. If not, shift them earlier into a classroom/live option.
- Confirm provider readiness and documentation expectations: the proposal would require providers to retain course materials, applications, and completion rosters for at least 24 months after a course becomes inactive. If you sponsor training through vendors, ask how they handle retention and how quickly they can produce completion rosters if there’s a question later.
Manager takeaway: don’t wait for a renewal scramble to discover your team’s CE plan was built on assumptions about crediting or posting. Build a repeatable workflow now.
5) What this means for licensing candidates (and why CE news still matters)
If you’re studying for an insurance licensing exam, this is still relevant because it highlights how regulators think about measurable learning: interaction, knowledge checks, and documented completion. Those are the same habits that help you pass a licensing exam efficiently.
Use this as a training cue:
- Study like an online CE course is being designed: break content into sections, quiz yourself after each section, and keep a miss-log. That mirrors the “quizzes after chapters” approach Georgia is signaling for online learning quality.
- Build compliance habits early: keep a simple record of what you studied and what you missed. That discipline translates directly to CE completion tracking once you’re licensed.
Key dates and how to respond
Georgia’s office scheduled a public hearing for April 15, 2024, and written comments were accepted through April 8, 2024. Whether or not you submitted comments, you can still use the proposal as a trigger to tighten your CE planning and tracking so you’re not dependent on last-minute credit math.
CTA: If you want a structured path for insurance licensing exam prep or a cleaner CE completion plan for your renewal cycle, explore TSI National’s training options at https://www.tsinational.com/.
Source: Original article
Educational information only; verify requirements with your state Department of Insurance.