All Florida-licensed adjusters, regardless of license type or claim practice, must take continuing education. This includes 5-20, 6-20 and 7-20 All-Lines adjusters as well as public adjusters (3-20) **Note, Public Adjusters must take courses that are specifically approved for public adjusters.

To be CE compliant requires more than just taking CE courses. It’s important to be aware and to think ahead so you don’t find yourself stuck with fines or penalties. Below are a few things you’ll want to know to remain CE compliant:

1. Know your compliance period

Your compliance period is determined by the date you were licensed and your birth month. Your continuing education hours are due the last day of your birth month, after you have held the license for a minimum of 24 months. [Rule 69B-228.220(1)(a), F.A.C.]

Example:

Date Licensed – July 11, 2020

Next Birth Month – June, 2021

Compliance start date – July 1, 2021

Due date – June 30, 2023

 

2. Know your CE requirements

CE requirements do change. You should regularly review your CE status through your MyProfile account. Your total hours have specific allocation requirements that must be met. Be sure to take all the right categories of CE courses.

For all compliance periods ending October 31, 2014 and thereafter, the State of Florida requires, of all adjusters, 24 hours of CE in a two-year period referred to as a “compliance period”. The 24 hours are broken into specific categories as follows:

– One properly certified “4 or 5-Hour Law and Ethics Update” see our previous post on changes to this requirement.

– 20 “Elective” hours which may consist of any CE courses approved by the department (this includes CE categories formerly certified as “Law”, “Ethics” or “Optional” prior to the 10/31/14 rule change)

Adjusters who have been licensed for more than 6 years are eligible for a CE reduction.

Pursuant to F.S. 626.2815:

(b) A licensee who has been licensed for 6 or more years must also complete a minimum of 15 hours of elective continuing education every 2 years.

(c) A licensee who has been licensed for 25 years or more and is a CLU or a CPCU or has a Bachelor of Science degree in risk management or insurance with evidence of 18 or more semester hours in insurance-related courses must also complete a minimum of 5 hours of elective continuing education courses every 2 years.

**Note that in both of the above scenarios, the adjuster must also complete the mandatory Law & Ethics Update course in addition to the noted elective hours.

3. Know your status

Because many factors may affect your continuing education requirement (e.g. licenses held, number of years licensed, etc.), we encourage you to periodically check your MyProfile account to determine your individual continuing education compliance requirements and status.

Be sure to refer to your compliance evaluation on the “MyProfile” page to confirm your personal CE requirement. You can check your current CE compliance status and view your entire transcript history by visiting My Profile on the Florida DFS website.

This transcript is the ultimate authority regarding courses that you have taken, whether with AE21 or any other provider. Get very comfortable with the “My Profile” system, as you should return and check your license/CE status often!

Things to check on your profile:

Check for late hours. Hours taken after your due date will still post on your compliance evaluation screen, but they will be noted as “Late”. Though your hours requirement may have been met, late completion of your continuing education requirement will result in penalties.

Check prior evaluation periods. Always check previous compliance periods to make sure you are not delinquent for a prior period. Be sure to click on VIEW ENFORCEMENT NOTICE just below the Not Compliant text to check for any outstanding fines.

Check your transcript. The same course cannot be taken with the same provider within a two-year period and receive credit. This is noted on your transcript as a duplicate course. You will need to take a different course to meet your CE requirement.

4. Sign up for your Continuing Education courses at AE21

Remaining knowledgeable in an ever-changing insurance market can be a challenge, but at AE21, we make it simple. Check out our Florida CE course page here. We look forward to working with you.

 

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