The National Association of Insurance Commissioners, Kansas City, Mo., in April adopted a resolution to waive continuing education requirements for producers on active duty in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
As Joseph Normandy, executive director of the National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies in Fairfax, Va., says, “It makes no sense [for companies] to guarantee someone's job when they get back home, only to [have them find when they get back] that they can't do their job because their CE has lapsed.” While it is up to each state to decide whether or not to exempt producers serving in the military, NAILBA brought up the idea at NAIC's spring meeting in March in hopes that NAIC and its many state agency members would take it and run with it.
“It doesn't matter if it's just one person who's affected, or 1,001,” says Normandy. “When they're hanging up their camouflage and putting the suit back on, they can take a deep breath of relief knowing that their state took care of their requirements.” NAILBA would like to extend the policy to those who are called up for homeland security.
Several of the states that don't already have a similar policy on the books are considering it. The New York State Insurance Department implemented a policy in late March to exempt from CE requirements all insurance department licensees called to active military duty during the term of their licenses. General consensus at press time was that most states would waive CE requirements for producers in the military.
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