18 hours, 3 ethics — lower than the national norm
Under K.S.A. 40-4903, each licensed Kansas insurance agent must biennially obtain a minimum of 18 continuing education credits, including at least 3 hours of instruction in insurance ethics, which may also cover regulatory compliance. That leaves 15 general hours in any line of authority the producer holds.
The 18-hour figure is the Kansas-specific point, and it cuts both ways. A producer moving from a 24-hour state should not over-buy six hours they do not need, and a producer moving from Kansas to a 24-hour state should not assume the 18 they are used to will be enough at the new state's renewal.
| Line or status | Hours per biennium | Special rule |
|---|---|---|
| Major producer lines | 18 | 3 ethics |
| Public adjuster | 18 | 3 ethics |
| Title only | 4 | Title courses |
| Crop only | 2 | Crop courses |
| Pre-need only | 0 CE | Biennial affirmation |
The automatic suspension for a late CE report
Kansas does not treat a missed CE deadline as a fee-and-move-on matter. If the report showing proof of CE completion is not received by the agent's biennial due date, the agent's qualification and every corresponding license are suspended automatically — for 90 days, or until the producer demonstrates completion, whichever comes first.
On top of the suspension, the commissioner assesses a $100 penalty for each license suspended. A multi-line producer who holds separate licenses can be looking at several hundred dollars in penalties, plus a suspension that stops all business, from a single CE report that posted a day late.
The 10-day, $104, and 91-day thresholds
On the renewal side, Kansas gives a producer who completed CE on time a 10-day window after license expiration to late-renew with no penalty fee. From day 11 through day 90, the late fee is $104. After day 91, the license cannot be renewed — the producer restarts the licensing process as a new applicant.
A separate reinstatement path exists for a license that lapsed because CE was not met: a $100 reinstatement fee plus the $4 renewal fee, available within 12 months, with the reinstatement fee itself applying out to four years past expiration for fee-only lapses. The two paths are easy to confuse, and the fee schedule depends on why the license lapsed.
One-time flood and annuity training
A Kansas producer who sells flood insurance must complete a one-time flood training course tied to the National Flood Insurance Program, and a producer who sells annuities must complete a one-time annuity suitability course before the first annuity sale. Both are lifetime requirements tied to the product line rather than recurring per-cycle courses.
These are easy to miss because they do not appear on a generic "total CE hours" summary — they attach to the specific product authority, not the hour count. A producer who added annuity activity mid-career is the most common person to overlook the annuity course.
How completions are reported, and what to keep
Kansas-approved providers report completions to the Department of Insurance electronically, and the producer's CE record is what triggers — or prevents — the automatic suspension. Because the suspension keys on the report being received by the due date, a producer needs the provider to have reported, not merely to have issued a certificate.
If a provider's report is late and the automatic 90-day suspension has already posted, the course certificate is what the Department accepts to lift it — demonstrating completion ends the suspension early rather than waiting out the full 90 days. Keep certificates for every license line for a few years, since a multi-line producer facing several simultaneous suspensions has to clear each one.
Non-resident producers
A non-resident licensed in Kansas satisfies the requirement through their home state's CE rules, provided the home state has a requirement and the producer stays in good standing there. The 18-hour count and the 3-ethics carve-out are resident rules.
The one-time flood and annuity courses are tied to the product being sold and can apply to a Kansas sale regardless of residency — confirm against a Kansas Department of Insurance bulletin before selling those products in the state.
Worked example
A producer born in an odd year, with an odd-year renewal, holds both a life license and a property/casualty license. He completes a 3-hour ethics course and 15 hours of general content — 18 total — and confirms the provider filed the CE report six weeks before his birth-month deadline.
Had he waited and the report posted a day late, both licenses would have suspended for 90 days and he would owe $200 in penalties — $100 per license — even though the coursework itself was finished on time. The early filing, not the early studying, is what protects him.
The bottom line
Kansas's general requirement is a light 18 hours with 3 ethics, plus the one-time flood and annuity courses that ride on product authority. The reason to finish early anyway is the enforcement: a late CE report is not a fee, it is an automatic 90-day suspension of every license the producer holds, with a $100 penalty attached to each one.
Primary and official sources used for this guide
Kansas Department of Insurance — Continuing EducationPrimary/official source for Kansas's 18-hour requirement, the 3-hour ethics carve-out, and the one-time flood and annuity training.↗Kansas Statutes § 40-4903 — Continuing EducationThe Kansas statute setting the 18-credit biennial minimum, the automatic 90-day suspension for a late report, and the $100-per-license penalty.↗Kansas Department of Insurance — Continuing EducationOfficial department source for this jurisdiction’s current insurance producer continuing-education categories and requirements.↗Source pages can change. Check the current text and effective date before relying on an hour requirement, a reporting deadline, or a course approval.
Written for licensed agents, not issued by a regulator. Insurance License CE Desk has no connection to any state department of insurance or CE provider. Hour requirements, ethics credits, and compliance deadlines are set state by state and do change, so your department of insurance, or the CE tracking vendor it uses, has the final word on what your transcript needs.