California Insurance CE Requirements

California insurance licenses must be renewed every two years. The renewal deadline is the last day of the month in which your license was originally issued. Continuing education requirements must be completed and reported before submitting your renewal application.

Electronic renewals are available beginning 90 days prior to your license expiration date through the California Department of Insurance renewal system. You can renew your California insurance license online through the California Department of Insurance license portal at Sircon.

California resident insurance producers, including life and health agents, must complete 24 hours of approved continuing education during each two-year license term.

• Total Hours Required: 24 hours every 2 years
• Ethics Requirement: Minimum 3 hours, including at least 1 hour of anti-fraud training
• Course Format: Online self-paced and classroom courses are both allowed

Courses must be approved for the license type held. Producers with a life-only license may only receive credit for courses approved for life insurance. Producers with a life, accident, and health license may receive credit for both life and health-approved courses.

Agents who sell certain insurance products must complete additional state-mandated training before engaging in those sales activities.

• Life Insurance Training: Agents who sell individual life insurance policies other than term life with no cash value must complete 4 hours of life insurance training prior to soliciting consumers.
• Variable Life Training: Agents who sell variable life insurance policies must complete 2 hours of product-specific training prior to each license renewal.
• Annuity Training: 8-hour initial training course before selling annuities, followed by a 4-hour refresher course every two years.
• Long-Term Care (LTC): 8-hour initial training before selling LTC products. Agents licensed less than 4 years must complete 8 hours annually for the first 4 years. Agents licensed more than 4 years must complete 8 hours every license term.
• Long-Term Care Partnership (LTCP): 16-hour initial training, including both classroom and self-study components, followed by 8 hours of ongoing training each license term.
• Flood Insurance (NFIP): 3-hour one-time training prior to selling flood insurance.

California continuing education courses may be completed online or through classroom instruction. Self-paced online courses are the most common format and allow students to complete the material on their own schedule.

Online Self-Paced Courses

• Students must complete all course material and spend the required amount of time in the course before the final exam becomes available.
• A minimum passing score of 70% is required on the final exam.
• If the exam is not passed on the first attempt, students may retake it until a passing score is achieved.

California course completion rules also include the following:

• Continuing education hours must be completed before submitting your license renewal application.
• The same course may not be repeated for credit during the same license term.
• Excess continuing education hours may be carried over to the next renewal period as general credit only.
• Ethics, annuity, and long-term care credits do not retain their designation when carried over.

We report course completions electronically to the California Department of Insurance immediately after a student successfully completes the course final exam.

Licensees are responsible for verifying their continuing education transcript and ensuring all requirements are satisfied before renewing their license.

If you need to confirm your license status or license number, you can search your California insurance license through the California Department of Insurance license lookup tool.

Failure to complete required continuing education hours before the renewal deadline may result in delayed renewal, additional fees, or license expiration.

Non-resident agents who are in good standing in their home state are generally considered compliant with California continuing education requirements and may be exempt from completing California CE hours. However, product-specific training requirements may still apply depending on the line of business and activities performed in California.

Some licensees may qualify for exemption from continuing education requirements.

• Agents who are at least 70 years old and have held a California insurance license continuously for at least 30 years may qualify for a CE exemption.
• Life agents who sell less than $15,000 of insurance annually may qualify for a funeral exemption.
• Exemptions or extensions may be granted by the California Department of Insurance for good cause, including long-term illness or military service.
• Even when exempt from general CE, agents may still be required to complete product-specific certification training if they sell certain products.

Agents should maintain copies of continuing education completion certificates for at least five years from the date of completion in case of audit or verification by the California Department of Insurance.