I'm a professional engineer in Virginia and West Virginia and have been subject to West Virginia continuing education requirements for many years.  Attending a couple of 8-hour conferences per year (sounds like only one in Virginia) where only 10% of the information is useful (and even the useful information rarely pertains directly to your engineering discipline) is worthless.  The only type of continuing education that would help maintain one's skills is to require a college class every three years that is directly related to the individual's discipline and teaches the latest techniques related to that discipline.  The course would be graded and require at least a "C" to get credit.  But this "gain" would require actual "pain" , so Virginia will do the politically correct thing and institute a meaningless requirement because of the pressure that some other states require it. 

Companies who will make money on providing the conferences/courses are licking their chops.  To be honest, I'm surprised that Virginia held out as long as it did against the tide of continuing education.  I was proud that my home state placed importance on the degree itself and PE test results, leaving it to the individual to maintain any required competency beyond that point.  But individual responsibility is becoming a thing of the past and governmental entities know what is best for us, right?  I guess the situation is inevitable as Virginia transitions from a Republican to a Democratic state.