I strongly support the concept of continuing education.  Continuing education can be an effective means of encouraging registered design professionals to explore current business practices and technologies that are changing at an exponential speed in the comtemporary marketplace.  However, as others on this site have noted, the devil is in the details. 

If AIA continuing education units are not accepted, then presenting and attending additional courses becomes unnecessarily redundant and the regulatory administration will become expensive for both the state and the individual. 

Likewise, if other state's education units are not accepted by Virginia, then it will be exclusionary in spirit, if not in fact.  It is reasonable to assume that other states would retaliate with exclusionary requirements of their own.  Most architectural practice is already national and, in a global economy, anything that does not strive to eliminate unnecessary Balkanization is an unnecessary restraint of trade. 

Many of the negative comments I have seen on this site about distance or expense may hold true for land surveyors in the western portion of the state but do not in any way reflect my experience as an architect in Northern Virginia.  The AIA and other organizations host numerous courses each month which are either free or a nominal cost and the AIA already has an established qualifying system for providers and tracking system for members.  Additional opportunities are available through the internet or periodicals.