1.3 Renewal, Reinstatement, CPE Requirements & Discipline

Renewal, Reinstatement, CPE Requirements & Discipline

Renewal in Virginia is unusual: the expiration date is fixed by category on the calendar, not set two years after your license was issued. Candidates who assume an anniversary-based cycle answer this wrong.

---

1. Fixed Expiration Dates (18VAC160-30-150)

Waterworks operator licenses expire on the last day of February of each ODD-numbered year. Wastewater works operator licenses expire on the last day of February of each EVEN-numbered year.

Consequences that follow directly from that structure:

• The cycle is two years, but the first cycle is short. An operator licensed as a waterworks operator in September 2025 still expires on February 28, 2027 - roughly 17 months later, not 24.
• Dual licensees renew on alternating years. An operator holding both a waterworks and a wastewater works license renews the waterworks license in odd years and the wastewater license in even years, and pays the $80 renewal fee for each license separately (18VAC160-30-40 lists fees "for each profession, class, and category of license").
• CPE is waived for very new licensees. 18VAC160-30-190 A: "CPE provisions do not apply for the renewal of licenses that were held for less than two years on the date of expiration." The September 2025 waterworks licensee above owes zero CPE at the February 2027 renewal.

The Board mails a renewal notice to the address of record before expiration. By submitting the renewal fee, the licensee certifies both continued compliance with the Standards of Practice and Conduct in Part VI and compliance with the CPE requirements (18VAC160-30-150 C). That certification is what makes a false CPE claim a disciplinary matter rather than a clerical one.

---

2. Reinstatement (18VAC160-30-160)

Note precisely what the 24-month cutoff does and does not require. It requires a new application under current entry requirements. It does not automatically require a new examination, because 18VAC160-30-70 D keeps a passing score valid for 10 years. An operator lapsed for three years with a five-year-old passing score reapplies with that score; an operator lapsed for three years with a twelve-year-old passing score must retest.

Operating during the lapse is unlicensed activity. 18VAC160-30-160 C warns that any regulated activity conducted after the expiration date may constitute unlicensed activity subject to prosecution under Chapter 1 of Title 54.1.

---

3. CPE Contact Hours (18VAC160-30-190, effective January 16, 2026)

A contact hour is defined in 18VAC160-30-10 as 50 minutes of participation in a structured training activity - not 60. A full-day seminar advertised as "6 hours of instruction" delivers 6 contact hours only if it contains six 50-minute blocks of structured content.

The two sub-limits

1. Safety cap. "Safety subjects will not count for more than 25% of the total required CPE hours" (18VAC160-30-190 E). A Class 1 operator may apply at most 4.5 of the 18 hours to safety topics such as confined space, lockout/tagout, hazard communication, or first aid.
2. Utility management floor. 18VAC160-30-200 B (waterworks) and 18VAC160-30-210 B (wastewater works) each require that, of the total 18 hours, a minimum of four contact hours pertain to utility management for Class 1 and Class 2 operators. This applies only to those two classes.

Acceptable subject matter (18VAC160-30-200 and 18VAC160-30-210)

Both sections list the same seven acceptable topic families, differing only in whether item 1 reads "waterworks operations" or "wastewater works operations":

1. Waterworks or wastewater works operations;
2. Monitoring, evaluating, and adjusting treatment processes and systems, including technology;
3. Operating and maintaining equipment;
4. Security and safety procedures;
5. General science and mathematical principles;
6. Administrative processes and procedures applicable to licensure; and
7. Laws and regulations applicable to the profession.

Credit rules that trip people up

• No repeats within a cycle. No credit for completing the same course with the same content more than once in a renewal cycle (18VAC160-30-190 C).
• Teaching counts once. A licensee may claim credit for teaching a qualifying course, but not for repeat offerings of the same content in the same cycle. Separately, a licensee may claim four hours, no more than once per renewal cycle, for the initial development or substantial updating of a CPE course (18VAC160-30-190 D).
• College credit converts generously. One semester hour of college credit equals 15 CPE contact hours (18VAC160-30-220). A single 3-credit course therefore covers a full 18-hour Class 1 cycle two and a half times over.
• Borrowed hours do not roll forward. Hours completed during a current cycle to cure a deficiency in the preceding cycle are valid only for that preceding cycle and cannot be counted again (18VAC160-30-190 B).

Recordkeeping and audit (18VAC160-30-230)

Documentation must be kept for at least two years following the end of the renewal cycle in which the CPE was taken, and must include:

1. The name, address, and contact information of the sponsor;
2. The dates the licensee participated;
3. A description of the subject matter presented; and
4. A statement from the sponsor verifying the number of hours completed.

The Board may audit licensees for CPE compliance, and audited licensees must provide exactly that documentation.

---

4. Standards of Practice and Discipline (Part VI, 18VAC160-30-290 through 18VAC160-30-370)

The Board's sanctions (18VAC160-30-290)

The Board may place a licensee on probation under Sect. 54.1-201 A 7, impose a monetary penalty under Sect. 54.1-202 A, or revoke, suspend, or refuse to renew any license when the licensee has violated - or cooperated with another in violating - any provision of the Board's regulations or Chapter 23 of Title 54.1. Under Sect. 54.1-202 the monetary penalty "shall not exceed $2,500 for each violation."

Prohibited acts (18VAC160-30-320)

The enumerated grounds most relevant to operators include:

1. Violating, inducing, or conspiring with another to violate Chapters 1, 2, 3, or 23 of Title 54.1 or any Board regulation.
2. Obtaining, maintaining, renewing, or reinstating a license by false or fraudulent representation - which is exactly what a falsely certified CPE claim is.
3. Failing to report a change required by 18VAC160-30-300.
4. Conviction or discipline in any jurisdiction for an offense enumerated in 18VAC160-30-310.
5. Failing to inform the Board in writing within 30 days of such a conviction or disciplinary action.
6. Negligence, misconduct, or incompetence, expressly including undertaking an assignment the licensee is not qualified to perform, failing to demonstrate reasonable care and judgment, failing to adequately supervise work performed by employees under the licensee's direct supervision, and failing to act in a manner that safeguards the public interest.

Administrative housekeeping (18VAC160-30-300)

• A license may not be assigned or transferred to another person.
• A licensee must report legal name changes and address changes in writing within 60 days. A post office box is acceptable as the address of record only if a physical address is also provided (18VAC160-30-60 C).
• The Board is not responsible for notices the licensee fails to receive because of an unreported address change - which is how a licensee ends up lapsed without ever seeing a renewal notice.

Due process

Disciplinary proceedings follow the Virginia Administrative Process Act (Sect. 2.2-4000 et seq.): investigation, informal fact-finding conference, proposed findings, and a final Board order, with the right to further review.