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(a)The following words and terms, when used in these sections, shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. (1)Act--The Real Estate License Act, Texas Occupations Code, Chapter 1101. (2)Applicant--A person seeking approval to be a provider or instructor of a course for which mandatory continuing education credit is given. (3)Hour--Fifty minutes of actual session time. (4)Certified legal course instructor--An instructor approved by the Texas Real Estate Commission and certified to teach the required legal update course or the required ethics course. (5)Commission--The Texas Real Estate Commission. (6)Day--A calendar day. (7)Distance learning course--A correspondence course, alternative delivery method course or course offered through video presentation. (8)Elective credits--The nine hours of non-legal mandatory continuing education required by §1101.455 of the Act. (9)Instructor--A person approved by the Texas Real Estate Commission to teach mandatory continuing education courses. (10)MCE--Mandatory Continuing Education. (11)Person--An individual, partnership, or a corporation, foreign or domestic. (12)Proctor--A person who monitors a final examination for a course offered by a provider under the guidelines contained in this section. A proctor may be a course instructor, the provider, an employee of a college or university testing center, a librarian, or other person approved by the commission. (13)Provider--A person approved by the Texas Real Estate Commission to offer courses for which mandatory continuing education credit is given. (14)Required legal ethics course--A required course created for and approved by the Texas Real Estate Commission to satisfy three of the six legal hours of mandatory continuing education required by §1101.455 of the Act. (15)Required legal update course--A required course created for and approved by the Texas Real Estate Commission to satisfy three of the six legal hours of mandatory continuing education required by §1101.455 of the Act. (16)Required legal course or legal credits--The required legal update or legal ethics courses or credits earned for attending such courses. (17)Student--An individual taking an MCE course for credit. (b)Mandatory Continuing Education Requirements. On or after January 1, 2005 and except as authorized by §535.92 of this chapter, for the next and all subsequent renewals of a license on active status that is not subject to the annual education requirements of §1101.454 of the Act, the license holder must attend during the term of the current license, two Commission-developed legal courses consisting of a three-hour required legal update course and a three-hour required legal ethics course to satisfy the six legal hours of mandatory continuing education required by §1101.455 of the Act. The remaining nine hours required by §1101.455 of the Act may consist of elective credit courses registered with the commission under this section. (c)Application. A person who wishes to offer courses accepted by the commission for MCE credit shall apply to the commission for approval to be an MCE provider and shall register each MCE course using application forms prepared by the commission. The commission may refuse to accept any application which is not complete or which is not accompanied by the appropriate filing fee. Each prospective provider shall submit a provider application and at least one principal information form. (d)Forms. The commission adopts by reference the following forms published and available from the commission, P.O. Box 12188, Austin, Texas 78711-2188: (1)MCE Form 1A-2, MCE Provider Application; (2)MCE Form 1B-2, MCE Provider Application Supplement; (3)MCE Form 2-3, MCE Principal Information Form; (4)MCE Form 3A-3, MCE Course Application; (5)MCE Form 3B-3, MCE Course Application Supplement; (6)MCE Form 8-4, MCE Course Completion Roster; (7)MCE Form 9-8, Alternative Instructional Methods Reporting Form; (8)MCE Form 10-2, MCE Credit Request for an Out of State Course; (9)MCE Form 11-4, MCE Instructor Credit Request; (10)MCE Form 12-2, Individual MCE Elective Credit Request for State Bar Course; (11)MCE Form 14-1, Individual MCE Partial Credit Request Form (12)MCE Form 15-0, Individual MCE Elective Credit Request for Professional Designation Course; and (13)MCE Form 16-0, MCE Instructor Application. (e)Provider application. To be approved as an MCE provider, a person must satisfy the commission as to the person's ability to administer with honesty, trustworthiness and integrity a course of continuing education in MCE subjects registered with the commission. If the person proposes to employ independent contractors to conduct or to administer the courses, any independent contractor named in the application must meet this standard as if the independent contractor were the applicant; however, the applicant is responsible for responding to communications from the commission relating to the application. (f)Additional information related to application. The commission may request that an applicant provide additional information, and the commission may terminate an application without further notice if the applicant fails to provide the additional information within 60 days of the mailing of a request by the commission. (g)Fees. The commission shall establish fees in accordance with the provisions of the Act, §1101.152, at such times as the commission deems appropriate. Fees are not refundable and must be submitted in the form of a check or money order, or, in the case of state agencies, colleges or universities, in a form of payment acceptable to the commission. (h)Approval of applicants. The commission may authorize the manager or director of the education division of the commission, or a designate, to determine whether applications for MCE providers or instructors should be approved or certified. The commission may disapprove an application for failure to satisfy the commission as to the applicant's honesty, trustworthiness or integrity, or for any reason which would be a ground to suspend or revoke a real estate license. If an application is disapproved, the commission shall provide written notice to the applicant detailing the basis of the decision. (i)Appeal. An applicant may appeal a disapproval by filing with the commission a written request for a hearing within 10 days after the receipt of the notice of disapproval. Following the hearing, the commission may sustain or withdraw the disapproval or establish conditions for the approval of a provider, course or instructor. Proceedings involving applications shall be conducted in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, Texas Government Code, Chapter 2001. Venue for any hearing conducted under this section shall be in Travis County. (j)Power of attorney. If a provider does not maintain a fixed office in this state for the duration of the provider's approval to offer courses, the provider shall designate a resident of this state as attorney-in-fact to accept service of process and act as custodian of any records in Texas which the provider is required to maintain by these sections. A power-of-attorney designating the resident must be filed with the commission in a form acceptable to the commission. (k)Subsequent application for provider approval or course registration. Unless withdrawn earlier for cause as provided by these sections, a provider's authority to offer courses for which MCE credit is given expires two years from the date the provider is approved by the commission. Authority to offer any MCE courses ends with the expiration of the provider's approval, and the provider must pay current fees and reapply for approval as a provider in order to offer MCE courses again. An elective credit course registered with the commission may be offered by the provider for a period of two years after the course is registered or until the provider's authority to act as a provider finally expires or is withdrawn for cause, whichever first occurs. If a course was originally registered by another provider, the registration period is measured from the date of registration for the original provider. A provider may apply for approval to be a provider for another two years no sooner than six months prior to the expiration of existing provider approval. (l)Approval of instructor. A person who wishes to be an instructor of any MCE course shall apply to the commission for approval using an application form approved by the commission. To be approved as an instructor of any MCE course, an applicant must satisfy the commission as to the applicant's honesty, trustworthiness and integrity. Subsections (f) - (i) of this section apply to an applicant for approval of an instructor. (m)Term of instructor approval. If the commission determines that the applicant meets the standards for instructor approval, the commission shall approve the application and provide a written notice of the approval to the applicant. Unless surrendered or revoked for cause, the approval will be valid for a period of five years. (n)Subsequent application for instructor approval. No more than six months prior to the expiration of the current approval, an instructor may apply for approval for another five year period. (o)Required legal update and ethics courses. The commission shall approve bi-annually a legal update course and a legal ethics course which shall be conducted through providers by instructors certified by the commission under this subchapter. The subject matter and course materials for the courses shall be created for and approved by the commission. The courses expire on December 31 of each odd-numbered year and shall be replaced with new courses approved by the commission. A provider may not offer a new course until an instructor of the course obtains recertification by attending a new instructor training program. Providers must acquire the commission-developed course materials and utilize such materials to conduct the required legal courses. The required legal courses must be conducted as prescribed by the rules in this subchapter and the course materials developed for the commission. (p)Modification of the required legal courses. Providers and instructors may modify a required legal course only to provide additional information on the same or similar topics covered in the course or to create distance learning courses that are substantially similar to the live courses developed for the commission. To the extent that a required legal course is modified or integrated into a longer course for which additional elective credit is requested, the commission shall grant elective and legal credit for the combined course. (q)Instructor certification. Only instructors certified by the commission may teach the required legal courses or develop distance learning courses for the presentation of required legal courses. An instructor must obtain prior commission approval under subsection (m) of this section prior to attending an instructor training program. The commission shall issue a written certification to an instructor to teach the applicable required legal course(s) upon the instructor's satisfactory completion of a training program to teach the required legal course(s) that is acceptable to the commission. An instructor may obtain certification to teach either one or both required legal courses. A certified legal course instructor may teach the required legal courses for any approved provider after the instructor has attended an instructor training program. A certified legal course instructor may not independently conduct a required legal course unless the instructor has also obtained approval as a provider. An instructor must obtain written certification from the commission prior to teaching the required legal courses and prior to representing to any provider or other party that he or she is certified or may be certified as a legal course instructor. An instructor's certification to teach a required legal course expires on December 31 of every odd-numbered year. An instructor may obtain recertification by attending a new instructor training program. (r)Elective credit courses. To be approved to offer a course for MCE elective credit, the provider must demonstrate that the course subject matter is appropriate for a continuing education course for real estate licensees and that the information provided in the course will be current and accurate by submitting a brief statement that describes the objective of the course and explains how the subject matter is related to activities for which a real estate license is required, including but not limited to relevant issues in the real estate market or topics which increase or support the licensee's development of skill and competence. (s)Elective course application. A provider applicant must submit an MCE Form 3A-3, MCE Course Application and receive written acknowledgment from the commission prior to offering an MCE elective course. Prior to advertising or offering a course offered by another provider, the subsequent provider must submit an MCE Form 3B-3, Course Application Supplement and receive written acknowledgment from the commission. (t)Legal update and legal ethics course application. A provider must submit an MCE form 3B-3, Course Application Supplement and receive written acknowledgment from the commission prior to offering a required legal update or required legal ethics course. (u)Core courses for elective credit. Courses approved by the commission for core real estate course credit provided in the Act, §1101.356 and §1101.358, may be accepted for satisfying MCE elective credit course requirements provided the student files a course completion certificate with the commission. (v)Acceptable combined courses. An elective credit course offered by a provider to satisfy all or part of the nine hours of other than legal topics required by the Act, §1101.455, may be offered with the required legal update course or required legal ethics course. (w)Required legal courses for real estate related courses. MCE legal update and legal ethics courses may be accepted by the commission as real estate related courses for satisfying the education requirements of §1101.356 and §1101.358, of the Act. (x)Correspondence courses for elective credit. An MCE provider may register an MCE elective course by correspondence with the commission if the course is subject to the following conditions: (1)the course must be offered by a college or university accredited by a regional accrediting association, such as the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, or its equivalent, which offers correspondence courses, whether credit or noncredit, in other disciplines; (2)the content of the course must satisfy the requirements of the Act, §1101.455, and these sections; and (3)the course does not include a request for required legal course credit. (y)Alternative delivery method courses for elective credit. An MCE provider may register an MCE elective course by alternative delivery method with the commission if the course is subject to the following conditions: (1)The content of the course must satisfy the requirements of the Act, §1101.455, and these sections; (2)the course does not include a request for required legal course credit; and (3)every provider offering a registered course under this subsection shall: (A)ensure that a qualified person is available to answer students' questions or provide assistance as necessary; (B)provide that procedures are in place to ensure that the student who completes the work is the student who is enrolled in the course; and (C)certify students as successfully completing the course only if the student: (i)has completed all instructional modules; and (ii)has attended any hours of live instruction and/or testing required for a given course. (z)Correspondence courses for required legal credit. The commission may approve a provider to offer an MCE required legal ethics course by correspondence subject to the following conditions: (1)the course must be offered by a college or university accredited by a regional accrediting association, such as the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, or its equivalent, which offers correspondence courses, whether credit or noncredit, in other disciplines; (2)the content of the course must satisfy the requirements of the Act, §1101.455 and these sections, and must be substantially similar to the legal courses disseminated and updated by the Commission; (3)students receiving MCE credit for the course must pass either: (A)a proctored final examination administered under controlled conditions to positively identified students, at a location and by an official approved by the commission and graded by the instructor or, if the examination is being graded mechanically or by use of a computer, by the provider, using answer keys approved by the instructor or provider; or (B)an examination by use of a computer under conditions that satisfy the commission that the examinee is the same person who seeks MCE credit; and (4)written course work required of students must be graded by an approved instructor or the provider's coordinator or director, who is available to answer students' questions or provide assistance as necessary, using answer keys approved by the instructor or provider. (aa)Each required legal course offered by correspondence must contain the following: (1)course description; Cont'd...
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