Every CE requirement verified against official state nursing board sources. How RenewRN verifies the data →
Every CE requirement verified against official state nursing board sources. How RenewRN verifies the data →
Boards audit a sample of renewals and ask you to produce the CE you attested to. The deadline is on the notice itself and it is short, often around a month. An audit is a paperwork deadline, not an accusation, and missing it is what turns it into a licensing problem.
Find your board below for how long it expects you to keep certificates, and a step-by-step response guide.
| Jurisdiction | Keep records for | Audit guide |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 4 years | Alabama audit guide |
| Alaska | 4 years | Alaska audit guide |
| Arizona | 5 years | Arizona audit guide |
| Arkansas | 4 years | Arkansas audit guide |
| California | 4 years | California audit guide |
| Colorado | No fixed period published | Colorado audit guide |
| Connecticut | 3 years | Connecticut audit guide |
| Delaware | No fixed period published | Delaware audit guide |
| District of Columbia | 6 years | District of Columbia audit guide |
| Florida | 4 years | Florida audit guide |
| Georgia | 4 years | Georgia audit guide |
| Hawaii | 4 years | Hawaii audit guide |
| Idaho | 2 years | Idaho audit guide |
| Illinois | 5 years | Illinois audit guide |
| Indiana | No fixed period published | Indiana audit guide |
| Iowa | 4 years | Iowa audit guide |
| Kansas | No fixed period published | Kansas audit guide |
| Kentucky | 5 years | Kentucky audit guide |
| Louisiana | 5 years | Louisiana audit guide |
| Maine | No fixed period published | Maine audit guide |
| Maryland | 6 years | Maryland audit guide |
| Massachusetts | 4 years | Massachusetts audit guide |
| Michigan | 4 years | Michigan audit guide |
| Minnesota | 2 years | Minnesota audit guide |
| Mississippi | 4 years | Mississippi audit guide |
| Missouri | No fixed period published | Missouri audit guide |
| Montana | No fixed period published | Montana audit guide |
| Nebraska | No fixed period published | Nebraska audit guide |
| Nevada | 4 years | Nevada audit guide |
| New Hampshire | No fixed period published | New Hampshire audit guide |
| New Jersey | 5 years | New Jersey audit guide |
| New Mexico | 1 years | New Mexico audit guide |
| New York | 5 years | New York audit guide |
| North Carolina | 5 years | North Carolina audit guide |
| North Dakota | 4 years | North Dakota audit guide |
| Ohio | 6 years | Ohio audit guide |
| Oklahoma | No fixed period published | Oklahoma audit guide |
| Oregon | No fixed period published | Oregon audit guide |
| Pennsylvania | 5 years | Pennsylvania audit guide |
| Rhode Island | 4 years | Rhode Island audit guide |
| South Carolina | 4 years | South Carolina audit guide |
| South Dakota | No fixed period published | South Dakota audit guide |
| Tennessee | 4 years | Tennessee audit guide |
| Texas | 4 years | Texas audit guide |
| Utah | No fixed period published | Utah audit guide |
| Vermont | No fixed period published | Vermont audit guide |
| Virginia | 2 years | Virginia audit guide |
| Washington | No fixed period published | Washington audit guide |
| West Virginia | 2 years | West Virginia audit guide |
| Wisconsin | No fixed period published | Wisconsin audit guide |
| Wyoming | 5 years | Wyoming audit guide |
16 jurisdictions publish no fixed retention period. That is not permission to discard certificates: keep them anyway, because an audit can still reach back into an earlier cycle.
A certificate of completion for every course you are claiming, not a summary page and not a screenshot of a transcript. Each certificate needs to show:
The two most common reasons a response gets rejected are a certificate with no contact hours on it and a completion date that falls outside the cycle. Your state's guide lists the rejections its board calls out specifically.
Every audit response is the same job: every certificate for the cycle, in one place, before the clock runs out. RenewRN keeps them together as you log each course, so an audit letter is a download instead of a weekend. Free for one license.
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