Yes indeed, insurance pro’s…you P&C licensees that sell flood insurance in Washington now must have a 3-hour FEMA based flood insurance training course! This rule, made effective on 6/8/2006, states that if you are (1) P&C licensed, and (2) selling federal flood insurance in Washington, you are required to take the 3-hour flood training course. I know that this affects Washington resident producers, but I don’t know if non-resident license holders will be affected. I will find out and let you all know ASAP!
It looks as if the flood training will also be made part of the prelicense educational requirements. There are rumors that the state insurance exam is changing sometime around 4/1/2007, and this will bring into play any prelicense requirements concerning this flood training stuff.
Unfortunately, I cannot find anything at the Wasington insurance website that relates to this requirement, so I have no information from them to link to. If you are curious as to what jurisdictions have embraced the new FEMA requirement plus additional info, click here to access FEMA’s site. In addition, here is the Washington law verbatim, complete with regulation citations if you are interested:
Legislation introduced by Mike Kreidler, Insurance Commissioner, passed by the Legislature, and is effective June 8, 2006:
HB 2406 Section 15
A new section is added to chapter 48.17 RCW to read as follows:
(1) All Washington state licensed insurance agents who sell federal flood insurance policies must comply with the minimum training requirements of section 207 of the flood insurance reform act of 2004, and basic flood education as outlined at 70 C.F. R. Sec. 52117, or such later requirements as are published by the federal emergency management agency.
(2) Licensed insurers shall demonstrate to the commissioner, upon request, that their licensed and appointed agents who sell federal flood insurance policies have complied with the minimum federal flood insurance training requirements.
ProSchools does not currently offer training in flood insurance that meets the federal and state requirements, and I am not sure if we are going to. It all “depends on the numbers.” I also don’t know what the prelicense requirements, if any, will be. Stay tuned, and please let me know if you have any questions!