The Commerce Department has just announced that they will be raising the technology fee associated with their electronic licensing and continuing education databases for real estate, insurance producers and appraisers.   The current fee of $10 will be raised to $30 effective for license renewals after July 1, 2018.  

The license technology fee was enacted in 2007 with the advent of our statewide online licensing system.  A technology surcharge of $40 was imposed upon individual licenses to fund the new system for licenses, license renewal, and tracking the completion of continuing education requirements.  The technology fee also replaced transaction fees for printing a license, letters of certification, address changes and other requests.  This lead to the state’s partnership with Sircon for many of these services.  

The fees are directed to a separate account called the Commerce Department Technology Account. A few years ago, the fee was significantly reduced to $10 at our request. We feared that surpluses in the Technology Account might be “raided” to address state budget deficits.  According to the department a significant growth in licensees, nearly 42 percent in 10 years for insurance producers alone, has resulted in an increase in related electronic transaction expenses. The Technology Account is apparently heading towards the red, hence the increase.  

The new $30 technology fee will be added to the current license renewal fee of $50 per license. So, a single line producer license will now cost $80.  A license for an additional line of insurance will cost another $80. It will apply to your next license renewal after July 1.  


Dominic Sposeto
MIIAB Lobbyist