§ 130e.52. Continuing education credit course providers.
(a) Approval, denial, suspension and revocation to provide a continuing education credit course.
(1) Eligibility. To be eligible to apply for approval to conduct a continuing education credit course, the applicant shall be the Pennsylvania State University or other education institution or entity. Out-of-State educational institutions or entities may submit certification programs to the Department for approval. To obtain approval, any training and educational program must, at a minimum, meet the requirements established by section 3 of the act (3 P. S. § 2010.3).
(2) Application content. Persons developing and seeking approval of a continuing education credit course shall submit an application, containing details of the course components and topics, as well as, subject matter and topics and time allotted to each subject or topic. The application must include the name of the person developing and administering the course and a contact person. The application must state whether the courses will be open to the public and if a fee will be charged. The application must set forth which of the various levels of certification the course provider intends to address and the overall length of the program and credit hours sought to be approved. Subsequent to receiving the approval or contingent approval of the Department, the course provider shall provide the specific locations, the names of speakers and the proposed dates and times the course will be offered at each location.
(3) Submission of application. The application shall be submitted to the Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, 2301 North Cameron Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17110-9408.
(4) Department approval, disapproval or modification. An applicant shall receive approval from the Department prior to offering or administering a continuing education credit course. The Department will review and approve, disapprove or modify a request for approval within 30 days of receipt of an administratively complete application. An approval, denial or modification will be in writing. A denial or modification request will state the specific reasons for the denial or the specific modifications required and the reason for the modifications. An application for continuing education credit course approval shall be submitted to the Department and approved by the Department prior to the applicant advertising the course or setting a date, place and time for the course. Upon approval, the applicant may advertise the course and begin to take applications for the course. The Department will publish the approved course on the Department’s website. The publication will include the course level, hours of credits to be received and the date, time and place the course will be offered.
(5) Criteria for approval. At a minimum, a continuing education credit course must address the areas of competence in § 130e.11, § 130e.21, § 130e.31 or § 130e.41, required for the level of certification the course provider intends to address.
(6) Revocation of course or denial or revocation of credit hours. The Department may revoke approval of a continuing education credit course or deny or revoke credit hours, or both. When the Department revokes approval of a course, the Department may also notify the course provider it is ineligible to provide continuing education credit courses for 12 months, or longer, from the date of the revocation. When the Department revokes approval of a continuing education course, any credit hours earned by a course attendee prior to the notice of revocation, will be honored and will not be forfeited. The following are the grounds for revocation of a course or denial or revocation of continuing education credits offered through that course:
(i) The applicant or approved continuing education credit course provider falsified or failed to disclose required information on the application or falsified or failed to disclose information with regard to course hours given or attended, type or content of material presented, attendance records of certified commercial manure brokers or haulers seeking continuing education credits or a violation of other criteria required under this section.
(ii) The approved continuing education credit course provider has failed to update materials and course content in a manner necessary to keep the course current with updates in statutes, regulations, technology or practices. In this situation, the Department will notify the course provider, in writing, of deficiencies prior to issuing a revocation. The course provider shall correct the deficiencies within 30 days. Failure to correct the deficiencies will result in a revocation of the Department’s approval.
(iii) The course provider has violated or assisted a person in violating a provision of the act or this chapter.
(iv) The course provider modifies the approved course, with regard to course content or hours of credit offered, or modifies dates and times of courses offered without the approval of the Department.
(b) Course monitoring. If the Department or its designee is unable to personally monitor a continuing education credit course, the approved course provider shall be responsible for verifying attendance, including credit hours actually attended, and shall compile a list of the names of the individual certified commercial manure brokers and commercial manure haulers in attendance and their certification number. The list shall be compiled on a form provided by the Department. The forms shall be returned to the Department within 10 working days following the date the continuing education credit course was conducted.
Cross References This section cited in 7 Pa. Code § 130e.61 (relating to denial, suspension and revocation of certificates).
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.
This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Code full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
