I maintain licenses in NC, SC, and VA (my first).  NC and SC both already require Continuing Education.  I will not argue its merits, since for us, that issue is a dead horse.

Nevertheless, if VA adds a continuing education requirement, it should be coordinated with other states, especially neighboring states.  First, VA should recognize continuing education taken to satisfy another state's requirement, so there should be no "piling on" of requirements (e.g. 16 for VA plus another different 15 for NC). 

Currently, NC's annual period runs Jan-Dec, while SC's runs Jul-Jun.  This creates a problem since we often have to take more courses just to stay "in spec" for each state, depending on when the training is available and completed.  My VA PE license runs May-April, which would make for an even more complicated equation, without a practical solution.  For Continuing Education associated with two-year renewal periods used in VA, I would propose that the period be adjusted to run Jan-Dec to keep things on a reasonable and simple basis.

The "biennium" in the language of the proposed change needs to be clarified to plain English.  If you say "16 hours per two-year registration period," almost all PEs will understand.  The current language just confuses. 

When adopted, the Continuing Education requirement should be similar to neighboring states, and not arbitrarily different.  NC and SC require 15 per year, so why should VA pick 16?  With the "biennium" language, are 16 hours required each year, or each two years?  Is Virginia's requirement really half that of NC and SC?  (Based on my opinion of the value of Continuing Education as currently practiced, I would not think less of VA for that, but it would create an interesting optic.)

Another commenter proposed a waiver of continuing education requirements for academic professionals.  With the Continuing Education system as it is now practiced, I wouldn't have a big objection to that proposal.  If there were an unexpected sea change, and we decided to actually have a Continuing Education system based on state-of-the-practice training on how things are done in the real world, nobody should get a pass.