North Carolina announces legislative changes to Licensing and Continuing Education

According to a recent article from the North Carolina Department of Insurance starting January 1st, 2008 there will be four specific changes to the North Carolina Licensing and Continuing Education rules. The four areas affected will be Line of Authority Licenses, Pre-licensing Education, Continuing Education and Notification Requirements. According to the news article from the NCDOI the changes will be made to “eliminate barriers for producers and insurers across state boundaries”.

Of these changes, two of them seem to be very significant. First is the six new lines of authority which are Life, Accident and Health or Sickness, Property, Casualty, Personal Lines, and Variable Life and Variable Annuities Products. The main change here is that instead of a Life & Health Agent and a Property & Liability Agent these two will be split into four which will be Life Agent, Accident & Health or Sickness Agent, Property Agent and Casualty Agent. Second is the Insurance CE requirements which will now require all major lines to complete 24 hours of CE every two year. This will include a 3 hour Ethics requirement.

LearnInsurance.com will be updating their course offering to stay compliant with all North Carolina rules and regulations. If you are interested in taking Pre-license or Continuing Education courses please visit LearnInsurance.com.

IACET provider authorization for 360training.com, Inc.

This week 360training.com announced that it has received authorization as an International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) provider. 360training underwent a strict evaluation of its educational processes, including two reviews by IACET's Commission and an on-site visit by an IACET Commissioner. With this approval 360training may issue IACET Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for many of the training course they have available.

LearnInsurance.com will soon be one of 360training’s website that will be offering these CEU credits.

IACET provider authorization for 360training.com, Inc.

This week 360training.com announced that it has received authorization as an International Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) provider. 360training underwent a strict evaluation of its educational processes, including two reviews by IACET's Commission and an on-site visit by an IACET Commissioner. With this approval 360training may issue IACET Continuing Education Units (CEUs) for many of the training course they have available.

LearnInsurance.com will soon be one of 360training’s website that will be offering these CEU credits.

National Organizations Urge Congress to Reject a National Insurance Regulator

In recent news organizations such as the National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) have been urging Congress to reject proposals to create a federal insurance regulator and instead support improvements to the state system of insurance regulation. A press release from PIA on October 3rd, 2007 listed reasons as to why a national regulator would not be needed but the main point that they made was that “One was not needed”.

Other groups such as National Governors Association, the National Conference of Insurance Legislators, the National Conference of State Legislatures and the National Association of Insurance Commissioners also oppose having a national insurance regulator.

One of the major issues that would be affected by any changes made between state and national insurance regulation would be Pre-license and Continuing Education. Presently all requirements are regulated by each state individually and occasionally state legislation adopts a national rule such as The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) that requires Insurance Agents who sell Flood Insurance to take a three (3) hour NFIP training course as part of their state continuing education requirement. This would completely change if a national insurance regulator was established.

To find requirements and courses for Pre-license or Continuing Education in your state visit LearnInsurance.com.

New Big “I” Chair

Robert E. Fulwider was recently inaugurated as the new chair of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”). He is principal and president of the Ray Wuestenberg Agency, Inc. in West Liberty, Iowa, and the Fulwider Agency, Inc. in West Branch, Iowa. He also is president of Bob Fulwider and Associates, a life-and-health financial-planning agency in eastern Iowa. In the past he was president of the Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa (IIAI) and currently sits on its Education Committee. He also is a past chairman of the Big “I” Government Affairs Committee and the association’s Crop Insurance Task Force, and chaired several other Big “I” national committees, including Farm/Agribusiness, Personal Lines and Markets Development. He served as a director on the national association’s Board and was inducted into the Iowa Insurance Hall of Fame in 2003 for being the only two-time Agent of the Year in IIAI history (1983, 1990).

The Big “I” is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers. To view the Big “I” Press Release Click here.