I have long believed that continuing education or retesting should be required to ensure the maintenance of proficiency and the meaningfulness of the entire regulatory regime.

The criteria established to qualify forms of continuing education should facilitate the use of bona fide providers located nationwide.  Those of us located outside Virginia and dealing with continuing education requirements by multiple states should not need to travel to Virginia to obtain acceptable courses and such.  We should be able to apply our CEU credits to the requirements of multiple states.

While those engaged in conventional A&E practice involving buildings, roads, and other popular endeavors will find many courses of multiple formats available, those of us in specialty practices will have a much more difficult time finding "certified" courses available in our specialty.  My practice area is radio frequency transmission systems.  To meet the spirit of the legislation, my continuing education activities should relate to this.  However, while numerous annual symposiums, seminars, etc. exist in the field (and I often attend), there are few CEU-qualified formal courses that are relevant to the core of my work.  While I could certainly take certified courses in other areas of electrical engineering, such as electric power distribution, that are readily available, that would not enhance my skills at what I spend most of my time doing.

To facilitate registrants' satisfaction of CE requirements in multiple states and to encourage relevance to specialty fields, the Board should maximize the types and locations of educational activities acceptable in meeting the requirement imposed by the Legislature.