1. (a) Continuing education shall be required in order to renew certification which has a continuing education requirement stated in this chapter.
2. (b) The continuing education requirement for renewal of certification shall consist of a minimum of 20 hours of training to be conducted during the certification period. Only 20 total hours of continuing education shall be required to renew all Texas Commission on Fire Protection certificates if any individual holds more than one certificate, except as provided in §441.17 of this title (relating to Continuing Education for Hazardous Materials Technician). All documentation of training used to satisfy the continuing education requirements must be maintained for a period of three years from the date of the training. Continuing education records shall be maintained by the department in accordance with the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, State and Local Records Management Division, Records Schedule, Local Schedule (GR 1050-28), whichever is greater.
3. (c) Track A training must be conducted by a qualified or certified instructor. Interactive computer-based continuing education training that is supervised and verified by a certified instructor is acceptable.
4. (d) The continuing education program of a regulated entity must be administered and maintained in accordance with commission rule by a certified instructor.
5. (e) No more than four hours per year in any one subject of the appropriate chapter of the Commission Certification Curriculum Manual may be counted toward the 20-hour continuing education requirement for Track A.
6. (f) There shall be no "hour per subject limit" placed on Track B courses, except that emergency medical courses shall be limited to four hours per year.
7. (g) The administrative head of the department may select subject matter for continuing education appropriate for a particular discipline.
8. (h) The administrative head of the department must certify whether or not the individuals whose certificates are being renewed have complied with the continuing education requirements of this chapter on the certification renewal application. Unless exempted from the continuing education requirements, an individual who fails to comply with the continuing education requirements in this chapter shall be notified by the commission of the failure to comply.
9. (i) After notification from the commission of a failure to comply with continuing education requirements, an individual who holds a certificate is prohibited from performing any duties authorized by a required certificate until such time as the deficiency has been resolved and written documentation is furnished by the department head for approval by the commission, through its Fire Service Standards and Certification Division director. No person may assign duties or accept an assignment of duties in violation of this rule. Continuing education hours obtained to resolve a deficiency may not be applied to the continuing education requirements for the current certification period.
10. (j) Any person who is a member of a paid or volunteer fire department who is on extended leave for a cumulative period of six months or longer because of illness or injury may be exempted from the continuing education requirement for the current renewal period. Such exemptions shall be reported by the head of the department to the commission at renewal time.
11. (k) Any individual who is not a member of a paid or volunteer fire department who is unable to perform work, substantially similar in nature as would be performed by fire protection personnel assigned to that discipline, may be exempted from the continuing education requirement for the current renewal period. Commission staff shall determine the exemption using documentation of the illness or injury that cumulatively lasts six months or longer, from documentation provided by the individual and the individual's treating physician.
12. (l) In order to renew certification for any discipline which has a continuing education requirement stated in this chapter, an individual holder of a certificate not employed by a regulated entity must comply with the continuing education requirements for that discipline. Only 20 total hours of continuing education for each certification period shall be required to renew all certificates the individual holds, except as provided in §441.17 of this title (relating to Continuing Education for Hazardous Materials Technician).
13. (m) An individual certificate holder, not employed by a regulated entity, shall submit documentation of continuing education training at the time of renewal. An example of documentation of continuing education training may include, but not be limited to a Certificate of Completion, a college or training facility transcript, a fire department training roster, etc. Commission staff will review and may approve or disapprove such documentation of training in accordance with applicable commission rules and/or procedures. The training for a resident of Texas at the time the continuing education training is conducted shall be administered by a commission instructor, commission certified training facility, an accredited institution of higher education, or a military or nationally recognized provider of training. The training for a nonresident of Texas, shall be delivered by a state fire academy, a fire department training facility, an accredited institution of higher education, or a military or nationally recognized provider of training. The individual must submit training documentation to the commission for evaluation of the equivalency of the training required by this chapter. The individual certificate holder is responsible for maintaining all of his/her training records for a period of three years from the date of the training.

Source Note:The provisions of this §441.5 adopted to be effective November 1, 1998, 23 TexReg 10903; amended to be effective October 11, 2000, 25 TexReg 10190; amended to be effective June 26, 2001, 26 TexReg 4734; amended to be effective July 29, 2002, 27 TexReg 6726.