1.    Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, any individual licensed as a resident insurance producer or resident insurance consultant shall provide the commissioner evidence, as required by the commissioner, that the individual attended or participated in continuing education of not less than twenty-four hours of approved coursework, of which three hours must be in ethics. The commissioner may reduce or waive the minimum number of hours per year of approved coursework for any individual having a license limited to a specific product type. Credits for courses attended in any one year over the minimum number of hours of coursework required, not to exceed twelve    hours, may be credited to the year next preceding the year in which they were earned or to the year next following the year in which they were earned. Reports of continuing education must be made at the end of a two-year period. The commissioner may provide a one-time extension of the two-year reporting requirement, not to exceed thirty-six months, if additional time is necessary in order to implement the transition to reporting continuing education by birth month. No continuing education is required of an insurance producer who, as of January 1, 2010, is at least sixty-two years of age and who has a combined total years of continuous licensure as an insurance producer and years of age which equals eighty-five.

2.    The commissioner shall by rule provide for reporting by birth month of compliance with the continuing education requirements of this section.