K.A.R. 40-7-20a. Agents; continuing education; approval of courses; requirements. (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(j) 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. (Authorized by K.S.A. 40-103 and K.S.A. 2007 Supp. 40-4916; implementing K.S.A. 2007 Supp. 40-4903; effective May 15, 1989; amended, T-40-8-28-90, Aug. 30, 1990; amended Oct. 15, 1990; amended Feb. 8, 1993; amended April 11, 1997; amended Feb. 9, 2007; amended May 22, 2009.)