Texas Insurance Continuing Education (CE) Requirements

The Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) regularly updates its CE requirements for renewing Texas insurance licenses. Below are the key rules and regulations to follow for maintaining your license.

Resident Requirements:

To renew your Texas insurance license, the following conditions must be met:

• Courses must be approved by the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI). (All of our courses are TDI-approved.)
• At least 50% of your CE hours must be classroom or classroom-equivalent courses. Many online courses, including ours, meet this classroom-equivalent requirement.
• The courses should correspond with your specific license type.

Types of Resident Licenses:

• Producers: Every two years, producers must complete 24 hours of continuing education, including 3 hours focused on ethics.
• Adjusters: Similarly, adjusters need 24 hours of CE every two years, with 3 hours dedicated to ethics training.
• Limited Lines: If you work with limited lines, you are required to complete 10 hours of CE every two years, including 3 hours of ethics training.

If you fail to complete the required hours before your license expiration, you have 90 days to make up the hours and will incur a fine of $50 per missing hour. If the requirements are not met within 90 days, your license will be inactivated, and you’ll need to apply for a new one.

Non-Resident Requirements:

Non-resident producers do not need additional CE hours for their Texas non-resident license if they have met the CE requirements in their home state.

Carrying Over CE Hours:

Any excess CE hours earned during a licensing term do not roll over to the next term. You must complete the full 24 hours within each two-year period.

Specific Texas Insurance Product Training Requirements

Annuities:

Agents who sell annuities must take a state-specific, 4-hour Annuity Best Interest certification course. If you’ve already completed a 4-hour Annuity Suitability course, a 1-hour Annuity Best Interest course will fulfill this requirement. Additionally, you must complete 8 hours of annuity CE every two years, which is separate from the overall CE requirement.

Long-Term Care (LTC):

To sell long-term care policies, agents need to complete a one-time, 8-hour LTC partnership certification course, which counts towards the overall CE requirement. Afterward, at least 4 hours of LTC training must be completed each renewal period.

Flood Insurance:

Agents selling flood insurance must complete a minimum of 3 hours of FEMA and National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) training.

Medicare:

To sell Medicare supplemental insurance, agents must take an initial 8-hour course and 4 hours of Medicare-focused continuing education during each renewal period.

Renewing Your Texas Insurance License

Individual licenses in Texas are valid for two years and expire on the last day of your birth month. You can renew your license through TDI’s Insurance License Renewal portal if it’s more than 30 days before your renewal date. If you’re within 30 days, you can use Sircon’s renewal tool (with an $8.25 fee) or the National Insurance Producer Registry (NIPR) portal (with a $5 fee).

Texas CE Exam Requirements

All required CE final exams must be passed with a score of 70% or higher. The exams are closed-book, and you can retake them as many times as necessary to pass.

Instructor Credits

Teaching a CE course does not count toward the 24-hour CE requirement.

Reporting Rules

CE providers must report course completion within 30 days. A fee of 88 cents per credit hour applies to online, self-study, and classroom courses.

CE Exemptions

You may qualify for an exemption from CE requirements if you’ve been licensed for 20 consecutive years under the Texas Insurance Code. Extensions for completing CE may be granted under certain circumstances, such as illness or military deployment.

FAQs

• How long does a Texas insurance license last?
  Texas insurance licenses are valid for two years. You must complete your CE requirements within each two-year period to maintain your license.
• How do I check the status of my Texas insurance license?
  You can check your CE status using the Sircon transcript inquiry tool. You’ll need your license number to access the transcript.
• How do I check the status of my Texas adjuster license?
  The same process applies for checking both insurance producer and adjuster CE hours through Sircon’s lookup tool.