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 to guarantee someone’s job when they get back home, only to find 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. Shortly thereafter, NAIC issued a memorandum encouraging state commissioners to waive the requirements in their state.
"It doesn’t matter if it’s just one person who’s affected, or 1,001," says Normandy. "When they’re going through their mental debriefing, hanging up their camouflage and putting the suit back on, they can take a deep breath of relief knowing that their state stepped up to the plate and took care of their requirements." NAILBA would like to see the policy also extend to those who are called up for homeland security duty.
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 follow suit.