Kentucky Professional Engineer Renewal
Kentucky professional engineers complete 30 professional development hours during each two-calendar-year reporting period before their biennial license renewal.
Complete 30 PDH during the two calendar years preceding the June 30 renewal deadline. Up to 15 excess PDH may carry into the next reporting period. Technical, ethical, and managerial subjects may qualify, but Kentucky does not state a separate ethics-hour minimum.
Core Requirement
| Requirement | Kentucky PE rule |
|---|---|
| Total education | 30 PDH during each reporting period. |
| Reporting period | The two calendar years—January 1 through December 31—preceding the June 30 license-renewal deadline. |
| Ethics | Kentucky permits relevant ethical subjects but does not prescribe a separate minimum number of ethics PDH. |
| Carryover | Up to 15 PDH earned beyond the requirement may be carried into the next reporting period. |
| Repeated courses | Credit is allowed only when an activity is substantially different from a course for which credit was claimed or granted during the current reporting period. |
| Renewal deadline | June 30 of the licensee’s biennial renewal year. |
Course Eligibility
Qualifying education must be relevant to engineering practice, contain technical, ethical, or managerial subject matter, be an organized learning program, and be conducted by someone with appropriate education, training, or expertise.
Online and Distance Education
Kentucky expressly recognizes short courses, tutorials, webinars, and distance-education courses delivered live online or as archived prerecorded or correspondence programs. The PE regulation does not establish a separate numerical cap for qualifying distance education.
However, self-study is excluded. An online activity should therefore be an organized provider-led program with defined content and evidence of successful completion—not informal reading, viewing, or personal research.
Exemptions and Extensions
The calendar year in which a PE is initially licensed by Kentucky is exempt. If initial licensure occurs during the first calendar year of the reporting period, 15 PDH are required for that period.
A licensee on active duty in the United States Armed Forces is exempt for the years in which the licensee was on active duty.
A licensee first licensed before January 1, 1972, who has continuously kept the license in good standing is exempt.
Inactive or retired former licensees are exempt. A physical disability, illness, or other extenuating circumstance may support a written, documented extension requested during the applicable calendar year.
Reporting and Audit
At biennial renewal, the PE certifies whether the CPD requirement was met. Kentucky requires the licensee to maintain an activity log and attendance evidence supporting every PDH claimed.
The current regulation does not state a fixed records-retention duration. As a practical minimum, preserve the complete reporting-period file through renewal and any audit, investigation, carryover use, or compliance resolution.
Official Sources