NOTICES
INSURANCE DEPARTMENT
Continuing Education Advisory Board Guidelines and 1998 Continuing Education Advisory Board Members
[28 Pa.B. 862] 1. Name
The Pennsylvania Continuing Education Advisory Board shall be referred to as the Advisory Board.
2. Purpose
The Advisory Board serves the following purposes:
* Periodically makes recommendations to the Commissioner regarding the development of criteria for awarding a contract for the administration of continuing education.
* Offers guidance regarding approval or disapproval of courses, credit hours, qualifications of course sponsors and instructors.
* Makes recommendations as liaison with the NAIC task force on continuing education.
* Recommends changes to the continuing education regulation.
* Reviews appeals by course sponsors and instructors whose courses or qualifications were not approved by the Department and make recommendations to the Commissioner to aid the Commissioner in reaching a final decision on the appeal.
* Offers guidance on any other matters that the Commissioner requests.
3. Operational Year
The Advisory Board will operate on a yearly basis from January 1 through December 31.
4. Membership
A. Total Number of Members
The Advisory Board will consist of no more than 15 organizations and individuals but not less than 13 organizations and individuals.
B. Composition of Advisory Board
1) Appointments made to the Advisory Board will follow these basic requirements:
a) Individual representation
3 Individual agent/broker at large
b) Organizational representation:
3 Statewide agent associations
3 companies or company associations
3 nonprofit educational organizations
1 for-profit educational provider of continuing education courses
2) The Insurance Department shall have a permanent representative on the Advisory Board as an ex-officio nonvoting member.
C. Contact Person
For organizations, the appointment to the Advisory Board is the organization, not the individual. Each organization is to identify a contact person for matters referring to the Advisory Board's activity. This contact person shall be responsible for receiving and distributing all communication pertaining to Advisory Board business within its organization.
D. Compensation for Advisory Board Members
Members on the Advisory Board receive no compensation or reimbursement of expenses.
5. Appointment Process
A. Identification of Advisory Board Members
1) Initial members of the Advisory Board shall be appointed by the Commissioner in accordance with section 4(B).
2) All requests or nominations for an appointment are to be sent to the Department which will forward them to the Chair of the Advisory Board. The Advisory Board will review the requests and make recommendations on appointments to the Commissioner.
B. Recommendations to the Commissioner
The Advisory Board is to send all requests with the Advisory Board's recommendations to the Commissioner annually by November 1st.
C. Timeline for Consideration and Appointments
The Advisory Board will review all requests at its regularly scheduled quarterly meetings. The Advisory Board will forward recommendations to the Commissioner who will make the final appointments which will become effective with the beginning of the Advisory Board's operational year (January 1st).
D. Criteria Form
A criteria form will be used for prospective Advisory Board Members to request an appointment.
6. Term
A. Appointment/Term
Members shall serve a term of 3 years, except as provided in sections 7.B or 7.C.
B. Initial Staggering of Terms
During the initial period of appointment, one-third of the Members shall have a term of 1 year, expiring December 31, 1998; one-third of the Members shall have a term of 2 years, expiring December 31, 1999; and the remainder of the Members shall have a term of 3 years, expiring December 31, 2000; the for profit continuing education provider will serve for 2 years.
7. Vacancies
A. Unexpired Term
Vacancies on the Advisory Board shall be filled by the Commissioner for the unexpired portion of the current term. Insofar as practical, a vacancy shall be filled by an organization or individual of the same category (for example, agent association, company or company associations, nonprofit educational organizations and for-profit educational provider) as the Member leaving the Advisory Board.
B. Resignation of Advisory Board Member
A Member who does not attend two (2) consecutive or four (4) total regular meetings of the Advisory Board during a term of appointment shall be deemed to have resigned from the Board and a vacancy will thereby be declared.
C. Termination of License or Organization
An organization appointed to the Advisory Board which has ceased to exist, or an individual appointee who no longer is licensed to sell insurance in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is deemed to have resigned and a vacancy is thereby declared.
8. Meetings
A. Annual Meeting
The Advisory Board shall meet annually for its organizational meeting in July of each year.
B. Regular Meetings
The Advisory Board may provide for the date, time and place of additional regular quarterly meetings to be held throughout the year.
C. Special Meetings
Special Meetings may be called by the Chair. Additionally, any four members may petition the Chair to call a special meeting if no regular meeting is scheduled to be held within the next 30 days, whereupon said special meeting shall be called.
D. Minutes
The Secretary of the Advisory Board, or another Member appointed by the Chair to act on behalf of the Secretary, at each annual, regular or special meeting shall take and report minutes to Members of all actions taken and topics discussed at the meetings. Minutes of the previous meeting and an agenda for the forthcoming meeting shall be provided with each meeting notice provided for in section 10.
E. Robert's Rules
The Board may promulgate or adopt, as it deems necessary, rules of procedure governing the conduct of its annual, regular and special meetings. To the extent possible, it is the intention of the Board to conduct meetings in an informal manner. At such times, however, as formal procedures are deemed necessary, the Board will be governed by the provisions of the current edition of Robert's Rules of Order.
9. Notice of Meetings
Notice of all annual, regular and special meetings shall be sent to each individual and organization serving as a Member of the Advisory Board. Each notice shall state the purpose of the meeting and identify any proposed changes to rules or procedures that will be considered at said meeting. Any meeting notice shall be given by first class mail or facsimile at least 14 days prior to the date of the meeting. The 14-day notice period shall commence on the date of mailing of the notice.
10. Quorum
Fifty-one percent of the members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of any business or the exercise of regular powers of the Advisory Board.
11. Officers and Duties
A. General
The Advisory Board shall elect annually, from among its members at the annual meeting, a Chair, Vice Chair and Recording Secretary, to serve 1-year terms or until their successors are elected and assume office. Officers may serve unlimited consecutive terms.
B. Chair
The Chair shall preside at all annual, regular and special meetings and discharge other duties incidental to the office or as the Advisory Board may require. The Chair shall further serve as principal liaison between the Advisory Board and the Commissioner and the Commissioner's Representative to the Advisory Board.
C. Vice Chair
The Vice Chair shall, in the event the Chair is unavailable, assume the duties of the Chair.
D. Recording Secretary
The Recording Secretary shall:
* issue all notices of annual, regular and special meetings;
* record the minutes of the meetings; and
* discharge other duties as may be incidental to the office of Recording Secretary and as the Advisory Board may direct.
12. Terms of Office and Vacancies
A vacancy in the office of Chair, Vice Chair or Recording Secretary is declared when the individual or organization filling the office resigns from the office or is no longer eligible to be a member of the Advisory Board. A vacancy will be filled by election at the earlier of the next annual, regular or special meeting of the Advisory Board. The individual or organization selected will serve in that position until the next annual organizational meeting of the Advisory Board.
13. Voting
A. General
For purposes of establishing a quorum and conducting votes on matters of the Advisory Board, each member organization and each individual member not representing an organization shall be entitled to one vote, no matter how many individuals may attend who are affiliated with an organization. The Chair shall retain the right to vote on all issues.
B. Procedure
Except as provided under section 18, the Advisory Board shall act by simple majority vote. Any proposal or motion shall be carried if a quorum is present and the proposed receives an affirmative vote of a majority of the quorum at a duly constituted annual, regular or special meeting.
C. Proxy Votes
For purposes of establishing a quorum and for conducting business of the Advisory Board, no proxy votes shall be permitted. All votes must be cast in person by the duly acknowledged representative of a member organization or by a person specifically appointed by the Commissioner to the Advisory Board.
14. Committees
The Advisory Board or Chair may establish standing and special committees and subcommittees as may be necessary to discharge the duties of this Advisory Board. Committees, subcommittees and the members thereof are subject to reappointment and affirmation at each annual organizational meeting.
15. Appeal Procedures
31 Pa. Code § 39.22(c) provides: If the Commissioner or the Commissioner's delegate determines that a course sponsor application or the qualifications for courses and instructors do not meet the requirements of this chapter, the appellant may request the Advisory Board to review the Commissioner's or Commissioner's delegate's decision. Following the review, the Advisory Board will make its recommendations to the Commissioner. The Commissioner will consider the recommendations of the Advisory Board in reaching a final decision.
The Advisory Board adopts the following procedures for the purpose of considering the petitions of aggrieved parties.
A. Appeal Format
The appeal shall be in writing from the aggrieved party. The appeal letter shall clearly state the reasons why the disapproval was not proper under 31 Pa. Code Chapter 39. The appellant should include all supporting documentation that was presented with the filing.
B. To Whom Addressed
The appeal shall be addressed to: The Continuing Education Advisory Board, c/o The Pennsylvania Insurance Commissioner, Insurance Department, 1300 Strawberry Square, Harrisburg, PA 17120
C. Distribution to the Advisory Board
The Commissioner or the Commissioner's delegate shall forward the appeal, including a copy of the determination as provided to the appellant and any supplemental documentation considered in the Commissioner's determination to the Chair of the Advisory Board within 14 days of receipt of the appeal.
D. Time Line for Consideration
The Chair of the Advisory Board shall determine whether additional information is needed in order to perform a review. If additional information is needed the party holding the necessary information shall submit it to the Advisory Board within 10 days of the Board's request.
The appeal shall be considered by the Advisory Board no later than at its next regular meeting.
E. Personal Appearance/Presentation
Personal appearances of an appellant before the Advisory Board shall be at the discretion of the Advisory Board. All requests for a personal appearance shall be reviewed and approved by the Chair.
F. Executive Session for Consideration
An executive session of the Advisory Board shall be called to review and discuss the appeal.
G. Participation
The executive session shall consist of one representative per member organization and any individuals appointed by the Commissioner. The Department's representative may not participate in any executive session that is being held for the purpose of reviewing an appeal. Any member that is an appellant in a matter being reviewed in the executive session may not participate in the review of that particular matter.
H. Recommendation
Upon completion of the executive session, the Advisory Board shall vote on the appeal. Only Board members shall have voting authority in all appeals. A majority of those present shall constitute a quorum.
I. Presentation of Recommendation to Commissioner
The Chair shall provide a written report of the recommendation of the Advisory Board to the Commissioner within 15 days of the Advisory Board's meeting. A copy of the report shall be provided to the appellant. All documentation shall be given to the Commissioner.
J. Records
The Insurance Department shall be responsible for all records forwarded from the Advisory Board.
16. Reports from the Insurance Department
At each regular meeting, the Insurance Department shall report on all relevant items affecting the Advisory Board, its charges, these procedures and the continuing education regulations.
17. Amendment to Procedures
Amendment to these procedures may be made by the Advisory Board. Any proposed changes must be submitted to the Advisory Board members at least 20 days in advance of any meeting as an agenda item. A vote of 2/3 of a quorum is necessary for adoption of any proposal.
Any approved changes may only become effective upon the Commissioner's approval.
18. Authority of Board Members
The Advisory Board shall recommend and offer guidance to the Commissioner on issues relating to continuing education. The Commissioner is not bound by the Advisory Board's recommendations. Sole decision making authority shall rest with the Insurance Commissioner and not the Advisory Board.
BOARD MEMBERS Agents
Audette T. Gelinas
Gelinas Associates, Inc.
Boiling Springs, PA 17007-0100
1-Year TermMichael L. Malloy, CPCU
Mellon Insurance Agency
Pittsburgh, PA 15258-0001
2-Year TermGeorge Lopata, CLU
Greek Catholic Union of the USA
Beaver, PA 15009-9513
3-Year TermNonprofit CE Providers
Robert G. Potalivo
Preferred Institute of Educational Services
Erie, PA 16504
1-Year TermJames F. Fryer
AICPCU/IIA
Malvern, PA 19355-0716
2-Year TermBurton T. Beam, Jr.
The American College
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
3-Year TermFor Profit CE Provider
Frank M. Cimino
Wise Education, Inc.
Southampton, PA 18966
2-Year TermDepartment Representative
Lisa Forry, Director
Bureau of Producer Licensing
Harrisburg, PA 17120Statewide Agent Associations
Peter Calcara
Professional Insurance Agents Association
Mechanicsburg, PA 17055
1-Year TermMark A. Male
Independent Insurance Agents of PA
Harrisburg, PA 17110
2-Year TermScott D. Jackson, CAE
PA Association of Life Underwriters
Harrisburg, PA 17101
3-Year TermCompany Associations
Jerry Slothower
Prudential
Camp Hill, PA 17011-5608
1-Year TermDennis S. Marlo
PA Association of Community Bankers
Villanova, PA 19085
2-Year TermLinda Cooper
State Farm
Concordville, PA 19339
3-Year TermFirst Meeting
Monday, March 9, 1998
Time
2 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Location
Insurance Department
13th Floor Strawberry Square
Harrisburg, PA 17120M. DIANE KOKEN,
Insurance Commissioner
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 98-271. Filed for public inspection February 13, 1998, 9:00 a.m.]
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