Kansas Administrative Regulations
Agency 40 - INSURANCE DEPARTMENT
Article 7 - AGENTS
Section 40-7-20a - Agents; continuing education; approval of courses; requirements
Universal Citation: KS Admin Regs 40-7-20a
Current through Register Vol. 43, No. 39, September 26, 2024
(a) Definitions. For the purposes of this regulation, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) "Coordinator" means an individual who is
responsible for monitoring continuing education offerings.
(2) "Course" means a series of lectures or
lessons that deals with a particular subject following a prearranged agenda or
study plan and that may culminate in a written examination.
(3) "Instructor" means an individual
lecturing in a continuing education offering.
(4) "Licensee," "licensed agent," and "agent"
mean a natural person licensed by this state as an agent.
(5) "Person" means a natural person, firm,
institution, partnership, corporation, or association.
(6) "Provider" and "providing organization"
mean a person or firm offering or providing insurance education.
(7) "Self-study courses" means courses that
are primarily delivered or conducted in other than a classroom setting or with
on-site instruction and are designed to be completed independently by the
student.
(b) General requirements.
(1) Only courses that impart
substantive and procedural knowledge relating to insurance and are beneficial
to the insuring public after initial licensing shall be approved for credit.
Approved courses shall be classified as life, health, and variable contracts
courses; property and casualty courses; general courses; ethics courses; or
general management courses. Credit earned from general courses, ethics courses,
or general management courses shall be acceptable in meeting the requirements
for the property and casualty insurance or the life and health insurance
license classifications.
(2)
Courses of the following types shall not meet the basic criteria for approvable
courses described in paragraph (1) of this subsection:
(A) Courses designed to prepare students for
a license examination;
(B) courses
in mechanical office skills, including typing, speed reading, and the use of
calculators or other machines or equipment; and
(C) courses in sales promotion, including
meetings held in conjunction with the general business of the
licensee.
(3)
(A) Each licensee shall attend a course in
its entirety in order to receive full credit.
(B) Upon completion of each approved course,
the student shall receive credit for the number of hours approved for the
course, which shall be equivalent to one hour of credit for each hour of
instruction.
(C) If the number of
credit hours for which a course is approved is fewer than the total number of
hours of the course presentation, the student shall attend the entire course in
order to receive credit for the number of approved hours.
(D) The number of approved hours shall not
include time spent on introductions, breaks, or other activities not directly
related to approved educational information or material.
(E) Neither a student nor an instructor shall
earn full credit for attending or instructing any subsequent offering of the
same course in the current biennial license period after attending or teaching
the course.
(4) Course
examinations shall not be required for approval of continuing education courses
except self-study courses.
(5) Each
provider shall submit proposed courses to the commissioner or the
commissioner's designee for preapproval at least 30 days before the date on
which the course is to be held.
(6)
An advertisement shall not state or imply that a course has been approved by
the commissioner or the commissioner's designee unless written confirmation of
this approval has been received by the provider or the course is advertised as
having approval pending.
(7) If
approval has been granted for the initial offering of a course, approval for
subsequent offerings not disclosed in the initial submission may be obtained by
providing written notification to the commissioner or the commissioner's
designee at least 30 days before the date the program is to be held, indicating
that no change has been made in the course and specifying the additional times
and places the course will be presented.
(8) The provider shall submit all fees
required for individual course approval with the course submission. If the
provider elects to pay the prescribed fee for all courses, the provider shall
pay the fee annually and shall submit the fee with the first course submission
each year.
(9) Each course of
study, except self-study courses, shall be conducted in a classroom or other
facility that comfortably accommodates the faculty and the number of students
enrolled. The provider may limit the number of students enrolled in a
course.
(10)
(A) Each successfully completed course
leading to a nationally or regionally recognized designation shall receive
credit as approved by the commissioner or the commissioner's
designee.
(B) Any agent attending
at least 80 but less than 100 percent of regularly scheduled classroom sessions
for any single course may receive full educational credit if the course is
filed as a formal classroom course. This credit may be earned to the extent
that adequate records are maintained and appropriate certification of such
attendance is provided by the course instructor.
(11)
(A) The
amount of credit received by an agent for a self-study course shall be based
upon successful completion of the course and an independently monitored
examination subject to the number of hours assigned by the commissioner or the
commissioner's designee.
(B)
Examination monitors shall not be affiliated in any way with the providing
organization or the licensee and shall be subject to approval by the
commissioner or the commissioner's designee. Each examination utilized or to be
utilized shall be included in the material submitted for course approval. No
examination shall be approved unless the commissioner is satisfied that
security procedures protecting the integrity of the examination can be
maintained. If security is compromised, no credit shall be granted.
(C) Each provider of self-study courses shall
clearly disclose to any agent wishing to receive credit in Kansas the number of
hours for which that particular course has been approved by the commissioner or
the commissioner's designee.
(D)
Each self-study course provided online shall meet the following requirements:
(i) Require the agent to enroll and pay for
the course before having access to the course materials;
(ii) prevent access to the course exam before
review of the course materials;
(iii) prevent the downloading of any course
exam;
(iv) provide review questions
at the end of each unit or chapter and prevent access to the following unit or
chapter until the review questions after the previous unit or chapter have been
correctly answered;
(v) provide
exam questions that do not duplicate unit review questions;
(vi) prevent alternately accessing course
materials and course exams; and
(vii) prevent the issuance of a monitor
affidavit until the course and course examination are successfully
completed.
(c) Each licensee or provider found to have falsified a continuing education report to the commissioner shall be subject to suspension or revocation of the licensee's or provider's insurance license in accordance with K.S.A. 40-4909 and amendments thereto, a penalty as prescribed in K.S.A. 40-254 and amendments thereto, or termination of approval as a provider.
(d) Course requirements.
(1) Each course of study
shall have a coordinator who is responsible for supervising the course and
ensuring compliance with the statutes and regulations governing the offering of
insurance continuing education courses.
(2)
(A) Each
provider and each providing organization shall maintain accurate records
relating to course offerings, instructors, and student attendance. If the
coordinator leaves the employ of the provider or otherwise ceases to monitor
continuing education offerings, the records shall be transferred to the
replacement coordinator or an officer of the provider. If a provider ceases
operations, the coordinator shall maintain the records or provide a custodian
of the records acceptable to the commissioner. In order to be acceptable, a
custodian shall agree to make copies of student records available to students
free of charge or at a reasonable fee. The custodian of the records shall not
be the commissioner, under any circumstances.
(B) Each provider shall provide students with
course completion certificates, in a manner prescribed or approved by the
commissioner, within 30 days after completion of the course. A provider may
require payment of the course tuition as a condition for receiving the course
completion certificate.
(3) Each instructor shall possess at least
one of the following qualifications:
(A)
Recent experience in the subject area being taught; or
(B) an appropriate professional designation
in the area being taught.
(4) Each instructor shall perform the
following:
(A) Comply with all laws and
regulations pertaining to insurance continuing education;
(B) provide the students with current and
accurate information;
(C) maintain
an atmosphere conducive to learning in a classroom; and
(D) provide assistance to the students and
respond to questions relating to course material.
(5) Each provider, coordinator, and
instructor shall notify the commissioner within 10 days after the occurrence of
any of the following:
(A) A felony or
misdemeanor conviction or disciplinary action taken against a provider or
against an insurance or other occupational license held by the coordinator or
instructor; and
(B) any change of
information contained in an application for course approval.
(e) Licensee reporting requirement.
(1) Each licensee shall report
continuing education credit on forms and in a manner prescribed by the
commissioner. Each course shall be completed or attended during the reporting
period for which the credit hours are to be applied.
(2) Each request for an extension permitted
by K.S.A.
40-4903 and amendments thereto shall be
submitted in writing not later than the reporting deadline and shall include an
explanation and independent verification of the hardship.
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. Kansas may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
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