What Courses Does Your State or Authority Require?

Independent course-requirement guide — not a government agency. Official sources and directories re-verified August 10, 2026.

There is no single national list of state-required courses, and we have not found a state that publishes one master list either. If you searched for "what courses does my state require," the honest answer is conditional: it depends on what you are doing — driving, resolving a ticket, serving food or alcohol, operating a boat, working a job site, applying for a professional license — plus your age or role and where you are, sometimes down to the county or the specific court. This guide covers legally, administratively, professionally or employer-required courses and certificates for adults and working teens. It is not a guide to high-school graduation credits or college-prep coursework.

Just as important: the authority that decides whether your course counts is not always "the state." It may be a state licensing agency, a local court, a federal registry, a federal authorization program, an accreditor, a county health department, your employer or your insurer. Matching the right authority to your situation — before you pay anyone — is the whole job of this page.

Where to start

• Resolving a traffic citation: choose nothing until the court that issued the ticket confirms your eligibility, any pre-approval requirement, your deadline and what happens if you miss it — court acceptance, not state provider licensing alone, controls dismissal.
• Starting a food, alcohol or construction job: first establish whether the rule comes from a state or local law or from your employer's policy, because that determines which list you verify against.
• Driver education or a boater card, for you or your teen: choose from the licensing or boating agency's own provider or course list for your state and track.
• Buying seats for a team: establish each worker's requirement by state and role before you evaluate any platform.
• Any situation where a free accepted option may exist: check for one before comparing paid courses — the cost section below explains how.

In every case, verify first and hold off on paying while any gate — court pre-approval, plea status, an age or birth-date rule, delivery-mode acceptance — remains unconfirmed. Where Required Courses has already checked a rule against the governing authority's own page — currently Texas, Florida, California, New York and two federal programs — those rows are published below; every other jurisdiction is routed to its own authority by name and link.

Required Courses is an independent educational publisher — not a government agency, court, licensing board, accreditor or course provider. How this page is funded: Required Courses is supported by advertising and, on some pages, disclosed referral links. No provider has paid for placement, ordering, or inclusion on this page, and compensation never determines what is included or how it is ranked. If a compensated link is added to this page, it will be disclosed here. Approval and requirement claims here are checked against the governing authority's own list, registry or rule, never against a provider's own statement, and each carries the date it was checked. Methodology reviewed July 20, 2026; official-source examples and every directory linked below re-verified August 10, 2026. Authority pages and approved-provider lists are re-checked at least quarterly, and sooner after a rule change or agency notice. Every requirement row published below carries its own verification status and check date.

On this page

• Which courses can a state or authority require?
• Which state rules are verified on this page today?
• Which authority controls your course type?
• Which official directory lists your state's authority?
• How to verify a requirement and provider before you pay
• Terms that change what you're buying
• If something has already gone wrong
• Choosing a course at a glance
• Cost, timing and what completion produces
• Exceptions, local overlays and employer rules
• Choose your next page
• Frequently asked questions
• Your next step

Which courses can a state or authority require?

A state or another authority can require training when an activity, role or privilege triggers it: learning to drive, resolving a citation, starting food or alcohol service work, operating a boat, meeting a workplace or contract requirement, completing entry-level training for a commercial driver's license, or applying for or renewing a professional license. The trigger — not the course name — is the place to start, because the same course title can be required, recommended or irrelevant depending on your role, age, location and goal.

Approved for what? A provider may be licensed for one course, state, delivery mode or purpose but not another. Court acceptance, federal registry listing, federal authorization, accreditation, agency recognition and employer acceptance are different systems. Verify the exact course and use case on the current official source before paying.

Your first action: pick your course family and your state, then open the governing authority's current requirement page and its official provider, course or school list before you shop. For the detailed workflow on confirming a specific provider, the guide to verifying whether a course provider is accepted walks through it step by step.

Requirements also recur, and they move. Cards and certificates carry validity periods, licenses carry continuing-education cycles, and a requirement can switch on or off as your role changes — a server who becomes a manager, a driver who adds an endorsement, a worker who moves to a county with its own rules. So "do I need a course?" is usually two questions: do I need one now, and when will I need one again?

Approved for what? The authority models at a glance

"State approved" is search shorthand, not a legal category. Eight different acceptance systems sit behind state-required courses — each with a different body deciding, a different thing to check, and a different limit on what approval proves.

Authority models: the eight acceptance systems used across the course families on this page. National classification, not state-specific rules. Reviewed August 10, 2026.

Authority model	Who approves or accepts	What it changes for you	What this model does not prove
State approval or licensing	A state agency licenses providers, schools or courses (driver education, real-estate prelicensing).	Verify on the agency's license search or approved list; completion feeds a state certificate, filing or eligibility. Ignore it and your certificate may never be recognized.	That a court, county or employer will accept the course, or that the provider is licensed for every course and delivery mode it advertises.
Court acceptance	The court handling your citation decides whether a course resolves it.	Confirm eligibility, pre-approval and deadline with that court; state provider licensing alone does not dismiss a ticket.	That a neighboring court, or your insurer, will treat the same course the same way.
Local requirement	A county or city adds or alters rules (food safety, court procedure).	Check the local authority where you work or were cited; a state baseline may not be the whole rule.	That a credential accepted in one county is accepted in the next one.
Federal registry listing	A federal registry lists eligible providers (the FMCSA Training Provider Registry for ELDT).	The provider and training type must appear in the registry — and completion must be reported to it — before certain CDL tests.	That every training type or location a listed provider offers is covered, or that your state's testing sequence is satisfied.
Federal authorization	A federal program authorizes trainers (OSHA Outreach).	Use an authorized trainer or provider; the result is a course-completion card, not a certification, and the program is voluntary federally.	That the card is legally required, or that it satisfies the training requirements of any specific OSHA standard.
Accreditation	An authority accredits or licenses training programs (food handler courses).	The exact program — not just the brand — must appear on the current accredited list for your state or locality.	That a program accredited for worker-level training is approved for manager certification, or that accreditation in one state carries to another.
Agency-recognized course	An agency recognizes approved courses and issues the resulting document (boating safety).	Take an approved course; the agency issues the card or record, on its own timeline, under its age or vessel rules.	That the resulting document is a license, or that it exempts you from another state's rules.
Employer or insurer acceptance	An employer, contract or insurer sets its own requirement or eligibility rule.	Confirm in writing what the employer or insurer accepts; this is separate from any legal requirement.	That the law requires the course, or that meeting the employer's rule satisfies a legal one.

Wording matters: on this site, licensed, approved, authorized, accredited, registered, recognized and accepted each describe a specific relationship with a specific authority — never a universal status.

Which state rules are verified on this page today?

There is no universal "state mandated courses list," and Required Courses does not pretend to be one. It publishes the rules it has checked against the governing authority's own page, and routes every jurisdiction it has not reached to the authority that can answer.

Ten rows are verified so far: Texas, Florida, California and New York, plus two federal programs, across six course families. A state absent from the table is a statement about coverage, not a finding about that state — use the official directory for your course family below to reach your own authority today.

Requirement rows verified on this page. Each row was checked against the linked official source on August 10, 2026; next scheduled review November 10, 2026. Rules can change between reviews — open the official source before you pay.

Jurisdiction	Course and use case	Governing authority	The rule, as the authority states it	Status
Texas	Food handler — worker-level, employment	Texas Department of State Health Services	Many food service employees must complete an accredited food handler training course within 30 days of getting a job; DSHS licenses the accredited online, classroom and private programs and publishes each licensee's DSHS license number.	Verified
Texas	Driving safety and driver education — provider licensing	Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation	TDLR licenses driving safety and driver education providers and publishes separate public license searches; the directory verifies license status only, inclusion is not an endorsement, and some public-school driver education courses are not included.	Verified with limitation — licensing only; whether a completed course resolves a citation is decided by the court that issued it
Texas	Alcohol seller/server — employment and liability	Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission	TABC strongly recommends seller/server certification through TABC-approved schools and publishes the school list; separately, Texas law requires sellers and servers at certain businesses, such as bars and nightclubs, to take a free TABC opioid-related drug overdose course each year.	Verified
Texas	Real estate — qualifying and continuing education	Texas Real Estate Commission	TREC approves qualifying education providers and approves each course separately, and publishes an approved course search covering currently approved qualifying and continuing education courses by provider name, provider license number, city, delivery method and course type.	Verified
Florida	Boating safety — operating a vessel	Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission	Anyone born on or after January 1, 1988 operating a vessel with an engine of 10 horsepower or more must complete an approved boating safety course and obtain the Boating Safety Education ID Card; the card does not expire, and FWC states it is not a boating license.	Verified
California	Boating safety — operating a vessel	California State Parks Division of Boating and Waterways	Beginning January 1, 2025, all boaters regardless of age must carry a California Boater Card when operating a motorized vessel on state waterways.	Verified
California	Food handler — worker-level, employment	Local enforcement agency: county environmental health (example shown, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health)	A California Food Handler Card is required for food employees involved in the preparation, storage or service of food, obtained from an accredited organization; the law requires the employer to pay for the employee's time and expense; the card belongs to the employee and moves to a new employer; volunteers are not covered.	Verified with limitation — card validity and any county program differences are set locally; LA County directs you to the card's issuer for its validity period
New York	Boating safety — operating a vessel	New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation	Under Brianna's Law, all operators of motorized vessels, including personal watercraft and specialty craft, must complete a state-approved safe boating course; the course requires a minimum of eight hours, students must be at least 10, the temporary certificate is valid 90 days, and the permanent certificate is good for life but the original must be carried on board.	Verified
Federal — all states	CDL entry-level driver training	Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration	Covered applicants must complete required training before certain CDL skills or knowledge tests; the provider and training type must appear in the Training Provider Registry, and the provider submits the completion certification by midnight of the second business day after training.	Verified
Federal — all states	OSHA Outreach 10/30	Occupational Safety and Health Administration	Outreach is voluntary, none of its courses is a certification, and it does not meet the training requirements of any OSHA standard — although some states, municipalities or employers may require it as a condition of employment.	Verified

Read the status labels literally:

Verification status labels used on every requirement row and throughout this site. Reviewed August 10, 2026.

Status	What it means	How it appears publicly
Verified	A current official source directly confirms the row.	Published; can support a scoped positive statement.
Verified with limitation	Confirmed only for a narrower scope than the headline may suggest.	Published only with the limitation visible in the row.
Partial	Some material fields are confirmed; others are unresolved.	Not used for recommendations; the row stays gated.
Pending official confirmation	A provider claim exists, but the governing source has not confirmed it.	Never published as approved or accepted.
Blocked	Missing or conflicting evidence would change your action.	Not published or indexed.
Expired, inactive or superseded	The official status ended, or a newer rule or record controls.	Removed from active recommendations; the change is logged.
Not applicable	The field does not apply, and the reason is documented.	The reason is shown; an empty field is never displayed as zero or "none."

Only "Verified" rows — and, with the limitation shown, "Verified with limitation" rows — support a positive recommendation on this site. A limitation is not fine print; it is the boundary of the claim. A provider verified for online driving safety in one state is exactly that, not "approved for defensive driving," and a program accredited for worker-level food handler training is not thereby approved for manager certification. When you see a limitation, assume the unstated remainder is unverified.

Coverage grows row by row into the State Course Index, this site's structured requirement dataset, which is in build and not yet published. Until it is, the table above is the whole of what this site has verified, and a missing state means "not confirmed yet" — never "not required."

Which authority controls your course type?

This router is the closest thing to a "what courses does my state require" answer without your state's specifics: eight course families, the authority model that controls each, and what to verify before you enroll.

Course-family router: eight course families mapped to the authority that decides acceptance. National router, not state-specific rules. Authority-model examples re-verified against official sources August 10, 2026.

Course family	Typical trigger	Who controls acceptance	Verify before enrolling	Verified here for	Owning guides
Driver education	Age, permit or license pathway	State motor-vehicle or licensing agency; parent-taught rules in some states	Provider or school license, teen vs. adult track, parental-consent or parent-taught authorization, required hours, delivery mode, completion document	Texas (provider licensing)	Online driver's ed guide · parents' guide
Defensive driving / traffic school	Citation, points or an insurer discount	Court or local acceptance on top of state provider licensing; insurer rules are separate	Court pre-approval, eligible violation, the completion and filing deadline and what the court does if you miss it, exact provider and course	Texas (provider licensing only)	How ticket dismissal works · course hub
Food handler / food manager	Food-service job or manager role	State or local health authority; accredited program and exam system	Worker vs. manager track, job-start deadline and who enforces it, local exceptions, program status on the accredited list	Texas, California	Handler vs. manager · food handler card guide
Alcohol seller/server	Selling, serving or delivering alcohol	State alcohol authority; training may be mandatory, recommended or employer-required	Your role, school approval, delivery mode, certificate validity, any separately required module	Texas	Alcohol seller certification guide
Boating safety	Operating a vessel under an age, birth-date or engine rule	State boating agency; agency-recognized approved courses	Birth-date threshold, exemptions, visitor rules, approved course, temporary vs. permanent proof	Florida, California, New York	Do you need a boating license? · course hub
OSHA Outreach 10/30	Employer, contract or state/local requirement	OSHA-authorized trainers and providers; voluntary federally, not a certification	Industry track, 10 vs. 30 hours, authorized provider, who actually requires the card	Federal	OSHA 10 vs. OSHA 30 · training hub
CDL entry-level driver training (ELDT)	First Class A or B CDL, an upgrade or a covered endorsement	FMCSA Training Provider Registry plus your state's testing sequence	Whether ELDT applies to you, training type, the provider's registry listing, completion reporting	Federal	ELDT explained
Real-estate prelicensing / CE	License application or renewal	State real-estate commission or department	Applicant type, approved provider and course, hours, exam and application fees, CE vs. prelicensing	Texas	License cost guide · course hub

Read it left to right: the trigger tells you whether the family applies to you, the authority column tells you whose list to open, and the verify-before-enrolling column names the fields most likely to make a real certificate unusable — the wrong track, the wrong court, the wrong delivery mode, the wrong version of the course. "Verified here for" shows where a rule has been checked against the authority's own page; everywhere else, the directory table reaches your authority directly.

Court-ordered education in other matters — substance-use, diversion, anger management, parenting classes — runs on different rules and different provider lists. Ask the ordering court or your supervision officer which provider it accepts; do not assume a traffic-school provider qualifies. If the underlying issue is substance use rather than the paperwork, SAMHSA's National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357), is a free, confidential treatment referral and information service, available 24 hours a day in English and Spanish.

How do these authority models work in practice?

Federal authorization is not certification. OSHA's own program page is unusually blunt: Outreach is voluntary, no Outreach course is a certification, and completing one does not satisfy the training requirements of any specific OSHA standard — yet states, municipalities and employers routinely require the card anyway. So the words matter. The accurate description is an OSHA-authorized trainer or provider and a 10- or 30-hour course-completion card; anyone selling "OSHA certification" is describing something that does not exist.

A federal registry gates the test, and the provider does the reporting. For entry-level driver training, being trained is not the same as being recorded as trained: the provider and the specific training type must appear in the FMCSA Training Provider Registry, and the provider — not the driver — submits the completion. A course outside the registry cannot satisfy the requirement no matter how good it looks, and a certificate from an unlisted school gives the testing agency nothing it can use.

State provider licensing and court acceptance are two gates, not one. Texas licenses driving safety and driver education providers through the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation and publishes separate searches for driver education providers and driving safety providers, plus a certificate validation tool. That licensing is real and checkable — but whether a licensed course resolves your specific citation still depends on the court handling it, its eligibility rules and its deadlines. Verifying the provider is step one, not the whole answer.

A state list proves licensing, not endorsement — and may not be exhaustive. TDLR's own directory says it exists solely to verify license status, that inclusion is not an endorsement, recommendation or advertising, and that public schools may offer driver education courses the tool does not include. Read every official list the same way: presence on it answers one question, absence from it does not always answer the opposite one, and neither is a recommendation.

A published deadline does not always come with a published penalty. Texas sets the food handler course at 30 days from hire, but DSHS publishes no penalty aimed at the worker — the rule reaches people through the health authority that inspects the workplace, and an employer's own policy may be stricter than the state's. Where a deadline carries no stated consequence, ask the enforcing body and your employer what actually happens, and whether an extension exists, rather than assuming either the worst or nothing. The accredited program list, not a course's own badge, is what makes the resulting certificate usable.

One authority can recommend one course and require another. TABC strongly recommends seller/server certification through TABC-approved schools, and many employers insist on it for its safe-harbor relevance — while Texas law separately requires the free annual opioid-overdose course for sellers and servers at certain businesses. Same agency, two obligations, only one of them mandatory, so "do I need TABC?" has two different answers depending on which one you mean.

A commission approves the provider and each course separately. TREC approves qualifying education providers, approves each qualifying course on its own application, and publishes an approved course search covering both qualifying and continuing education. Two things follow: an approved provider is not thereby approved for every course it advertises, and approval for continuing education is not approval for prelicensing. Every state real-estate regulator runs a version of this; the directory below points to yours.

Age rules move. Florida still keys its card to a birth date, while California and New York have dropped the age test for motorized vessels altogether. A birth-date threshold you read two seasons ago may no longer be the threshold — which is why a boating question gets re-checked against the agency's page rather than remembered.

If your course family is not in the router above — mandated-reporter training, notary education, insurance continuing education, CPR — the same model still applies: find the trigger, name the authority, verify on its official source. This page adds course families only after their rows are dataset-backed, so a missing family means "not covered here yet," not "not required."

Which official directory lists your state's authority?

Every jurisdiction is routed below, including the ones the table above has not reached. Each directory is an official government listing that covers all 50 states and the District of Columbia unless noted, so you can name your own authority today rather than wait for a row. Directories confirmed live August 10, 2026.

Course family	The authority you need	Official directory covering every state	What the directory will not tell you
Driver education and licensing	Your state's motor-vehicle or driver-licensing agency — the name varies (DMV, BMV, MVD, DDS, Secretary of State, Department of Public Safety)	USAGov state motor vehicle services — 50 states, DC and U.S. territories	Whether a specific school is licensed for your track; that is on the agency's own provider or school search
Defensive driving and ticket dismissal	The court named on your citation, on top of any state provider licensing	USAGov federal, state, territory, county and municipal courts	Whether your citation is eligible, whether pre-approval is required, or your deadline — only that court can answer
Food handler and food manager	Your state health department, plus the county or city health authority where you work	USAGov state health departments — 50 states, DC and U.S. territories	County or city ordinances, which can add to or replace the state baseline
Alcohol seller/server	Your state alcohol beverage authority	TTB directory of alcohol beverage authorities — all states, DC and Puerto Rico; TTB last updated it September 19, 2025	Whether seller/server training is legally required, recommended or employer-required in your state
Boating safety	Your state boating agency and its boating law administrator	The U.S. Coast Guard's state boating laws page, which directs boaters to the NASBLA state boating contacts list	Your birth-date, age or vessel threshold and exemptions; those sit in state law and on the agency's own page
OSHA Outreach 10/30	OSHA-authorized trainers and providers (federal), plus your state's occupational safety plan if it has one	OSHA find a trainer and OSHA state plans	Who actually requires the card — that is your employer, contract, or a state or local rule, not OSHA
CDL entry-level driver training (ELDT)	The FMCSA Training Provider Registry (federal), then your state's CDL testing agency	FMCSA registry provider search, then the USAGov motor vehicle directory above	Whether ELDT applies to you at all, and your state's testing sequence
Real-estate prelicensing and CE	Your state real-estate commission, board or department	ARELLO regulatory agency directory — an association directory of license-law officials, not a government list, and not every jurisdiction is a member	Approved course providers and hour requirements; those are on the commission's own site

A directory tells you who to ask, not what the answer is: the requirement itself always comes from the authority's own page, statute or rule. And where the deciding body is a county or municipal court, a city ordinance or your employer, no national directory reaches it — the citation, the local health department or your employer's written policy is the source.

How to verify a requirement and provider before you pay

The rules differ by authority, but the procedure for checking them does not. One evidence rule sits underneath every step: when sources disagree, the governing source wins. The statute, regulation, court instruction, agency rule or official registry outranks agency consumer guidance; agency guidance outranks a provider's record linked from the authority; and all of those outrank a provider's own marketing, which is reliable only for the provider's commercial terms — price, pacing, refund policy, support. A vendor page cannot prove its own legal acceptance when an official list or registry exists, and a screenshot of an approval is not the approval.

With that hierarchy in mind, work through the seven-step verification sequence in order, and stop at any step that fails.

1. Write down the exact outcome you need: a permit, license eligibility, ticket or court compliance, a card, a registry record, a job requirement, an insurer discount or a renewal credit. Everything else is verified against this outcome.
2. Identify the governing authority and its geographic scope, including the locality or court when one is involved. The router above tells you which authority model to expect; the directory table tells you where your state's version of it lives.
3. Open the authority's current official requirement page and its official provider or course list, registry or search tool. If an official list or registry exists, it outranks everything a provider says about itself.
4. Match the exact provider, course or version, identifier, delivery mode and location — not just the brand name. A brand can be approved for one course or state and not another, or for classroom delivery but not online.
5. Confirm prerequisites, exemptions, required hours or exam, what proof or reporting is required, and your deadline — including what happens if you miss it and whether an extension exists. A deadline you cannot name a consequence for is a deadline you have not finished checking.
6. Calculate the total required outlay — the formula in the next section — and keep optional convenience fees separate.
7. Save the official source, its status and today's date. If time passes before you enroll, or a deadline is close, re-check: approvals lapse and lists change.

Stop and verify directly with the authority — before paying — if any of these appears: a provider claims approval "in all 50 states" or "everywhere"; the only evidence of approval is the provider's own badge, seal or screenshot; the brand is on the official list but your exact course, delivery mode or location is not; your court requires pre-approval you have not obtained; or the official source is silent on your situation, in which case treat the answer as unknown rather than yes.

If your question is about your charge, your plea or your record rather than about the course, that is a question for the court clerk — and, where the underlying matter matters to you, for a licensed attorney. Required Courses is an independent educational publisher and cannot advise on it.

This is the universal version of the procedure. The provider verification guide applies it provider by provider, with the failure states and evidence rules spelled out.

Terms that change what you're buying

• Approved provider: a provider the authority has licensed, listed or authorized — for a named course, delivery mode and jurisdiction, not in general.
• Pre-approval: permission you must obtain from a court or agency before enrolling, without which a completed course may not count.
• Point reduction: removing or offsetting points on your driving record. It is a different outcome from dismissing the citation, and can carry different eligibility rules.
• Deferred disposition: a court arrangement in which a case is held open and dismissed if you meet conditions by a date. Eligibility and conditions are set by that court.
• Seat time: a minimum number of minutes or hours the authority requires you to spend in the course, regardless of how fast you can pass the test.
• Behind-the-wheel: supervised in-vehicle instruction, counted separately from classroom or online hours.
• Proctored exam: a test supervised in person or by remote monitoring, sometimes required even when the course itself is online.
• Prelicensing vs. continuing education: prelicensing qualifies you to apply for a first license; continuing education keeps an existing one current. Approval for one does not imply approval for the other.

If something has already gone wrong

Four situations change the sequence. In each, contact the authority before you buy anything else.

• Your deadline has already passed. Contact the court clerk or the authority named on your notice before enrolling in anything. Late completion is often refused, and paying for a second course rarely fixes a missed window; the clerk can tell you what options, if any, remain.
• You may not be eligible. Prior course history, your plea or case status, the violation type, your license class or your age can all disqualify you. Ask the authority whether you qualify — do not infer eligibility from a provider's checkout page.
• No approved option exists for your delivery mode. If the authority's list has no online course for your jurisdiction or track, ask what it does accept — classroom, parent-taught, in-person proctoring — rather than assuming online must be available somewhere.
• You already completed a course with a provider that is not on the list. Do not enroll again until the authority or court tells you what it will accept. Keep your receipt and completion record, and ask for the answer in writing. Some authorities publish a route for exactly this question: TABC, for example, invites students who find an unlisted online certification program to email the agency for confirmation that it is approved.

Choosing a course at a glance

No provider appears here by name except inside a cited official example, and nothing on this page is ranked. What follows is the shortlist profile for each situation — the documented characteristics to look for, each of which you can verify yourself.

Where a verified free accepted option exists for your state and use case, it goes at the top of the shortlist. Free accepted options are rarer than "free course" ads suggest, but they are real — the free annual TABC opioid course noted above is one legally required example. Check for one before you compare paid courses.

Your situation	Shortlist move	Confirm before you pay	If the deadline is missed
Ticket holder on a court deadline	Start from the court's instructions, then the state's licensed-provider list — a provider your court accepts, not merely a state-licensed one	Am I eligible for dismissal? Is pre-approval required? What are my completion and filing deadlines, and what happens if I miss them? Does this court accept online delivery, and will the certificate reach the court in time?	Ask the clerk before enrolling: late completion is often refused, and a second course rarely reopens a closed window
New food or alcohol hire	Start from the state or local authority's accredited or approved program list, in your language and delivery mode	Is this exact program on the current list? Does the price include the mandatory card or certificate fee? Will the certificate arrive before my job-start deadline, and what does my employer do if it does not?	Enforcement usually reaches the establishment through inspection rather than the worker directly, but your employer's own policy may be stricter — ask both
Parent of a teen driver	Start from the licensing agency's provider or school search, matched to your track — teen, adult or parent-taught where allowed	Is the provider licensed for my state and track? Does my track require parental consent or a parent-taught authorization? What completion document does the licensing office require?	A completion document from the wrong track is usually refused at the licensing office, not corrected there — confirm the track before enrolling
Employer or team buyer	Establish each worker's legal requirement by state and role before choosing tools	Which authority governs each worker's state? Is the provider verified in every relevant state? Can I export certificates and track renewals?	An unusable certificate in one state leaves that worker uncovered regardless of platform quality — re-verify per state before the renewal date

Score every candidate against the same seven-step verification sequence: a provider that cannot pass steps 3 and 4 — an official-list match for your exact course, delivery mode and location — does not advance, regardless of price, speed claims or reviews. Named provider comparisons belong on the course-type hubs linked in the router, where each option carries its own verification status and date.

Cost, timing and what completion produces

Total required outlay = course tuition + mandatory exam or proctoring + mandatory certificate, card or shipping fees + authority, court or application fees + required books or materials + taxes. Optional expedited shipping, retakes and convenience upgrades stay separate.

The cheapest advertised course is not necessarily the cheapest path to your outcome, because tuition is only one line of the formula. A "free" course can still carry an unavoidable card, filing, exam or application fee, and a paid course can hide a mandatory state fee behind an "add-on." Where a verified free accepted option exists, it is listed before paid alternatives on this site; the free course options guide covers who qualifies and which unavoidable fees remain.

Three verified cases show how differently the formula fills in. For a Texas food handler card, the lines are tuition for a DSHS-accredited program plus whatever certificate fee that program charges — no state exam fee and no filing fee. For a New York boating safety certificate, some in-person classroom courses are taught by volunteers and are free of charge, but for students 18 and older a separate permanent-certificate fee applies before the certificate is mailed; online course fees include that certificate instead. For a California food handler card, the law requires the employer to pay for the employee's time and expense to take the training and test, so a worker's own outlay can be zero while the requirement still binds. This router publishes the model and the shape of these cases rather than dollar figures — current, dated figures live on each course family's own guide.

Completion works the same way: it is the certificate-to-acceptance chain, and the clock is set by the slowest link, not the fastest.

1. You complete the course and pass any required exam.
2. The provider generates proof — a completion certificate or card.
3. The provider, or you, transmits the record to the authority, registry or court that needs it.
4. The authority processes or posts it on its own timeline.
5. If and when that is confirmed, the court, employer, agency or insurer accepts the result — or you become eligible for the next step.

Three labeled examples show why the later links matter. Under the federal ELDT rules, training providers submit completion certifications to the Training Provider Registry by midnight of the second business day after the driver completes training — the driver's own certificate is not the registry record. In Florida, FWC issues the Boating Safety Education ID Card after the approved course provider — which FWC notes is not affiliated with the agency — sends the student's information; when the provider submits automatically, FWC says to expect the card within two to three weeks. And in New York, state-approved safe boating course students receive a temporary certificate valid for 90 days while the permanent one is mailed, and only the original permanent certificate may be carried once it arrives.

Keep three clocks separate: how long the course takes (the provider's number), how long the official result takes (the authority's reporting and processing timelines above), and how long the result lasts. Validity is a rule of its own — some documents never expire, like Florida's boating card, while many certificates, cards and continuing-education credits run on fixed renewal cycles. A course that finishes tonight satisfies a deadline only if the later clocks cooperate.

So an "instant certificate" is real, but it proves step 2, not steps 3 through 5. It does not guarantee instant acceptance, dismissal, posting or licensing, and provider speed claims cannot promise court, agency or registry processing time. For what each document is, who sends what to whom, and where the time actually goes, see certificate delivery explained.

Exceptions, local overlays and employer rules

A national page can classify the systems; it cannot promise your local details. These are the exception patterns that most often change the answer.

The pattern is always the same: a narrower authority overrides a broader one for its own decision. A court's pre-approval or filing rule beats a statewide provider list for your citation. A county or city food rule can add to a state baseline, so a certificate valid in one county may need supplementing in another. An employer or contract can require training the law does not, and can decline training the law allows. An insurer's discount rules are not a court's dismissal rules — and in some states an insurance premium reduction runs on its own statutory program with its own approved-course list, which is why a course accepted for dismissal may earn no discount and a discount course may not dismiss anything. Ask your insurer and your state insurance department, not the course seller. And age, birth date, prior course history, license class, vessel or vehicle type and learner role all create exceptions inside otherwise simple requirements.

For employers and team buyers, the exception patterns compound: each worker's requirement is set by their own state, locality, role and use case, and the buying decision — one platform, many seats — sits on top of many separate legal answers. Establish the requirement per worker first, then evaluate tools; a convenient multi-seat platform that is unverified in one worker's state leaves that worker's certificate unusable no matter how well it manages the rest.

When any of these could change your action, the authority itself — or the verified state or local guide that cites it — is the source to follow, not this national router.

Choose your next page

If you arrived asking what courses your state requires, you probably arrived with one of these goals. Each card routes to the guide that owns it and names the official action that comes first.

Your goal	Start with	Official-source action
Make sure a specific course or provider will count	Provider verification guide	Open the governing authority's official list or registry and match the exact course.
Resolve a ticket with a course	How ticket dismissal works	Confirm eligibility, pre-approval and your deadline with the court that issued the citation.
Find a free accepted option	Free course options by state	Confirm the option, and any remaining fees, on the administering authority's page.
Understand certificate and reporting timing	Certificate delivery explained	Check the authority's stated processing or posting time for your document.
Get a teen through driver education	Online driver's ed parents' guide	Search the licensing agency's provider or school license lookup for your track.
Start a CDL with required entry-level training	ELDT explained	Confirm applicability and your provider's listing in the FMCSA Training Provider Registry.

Frequently asked questions

Are all "state-approved" courses accepted everywhere in the state?

No. A state license or approval covers exactly what the authority says it covers — a provider licensed by a state agency can still be unusable for your specific court, county, delivery mode or purpose. Court acceptance, local rules and use-case scope are separate gates. Treat "state approved" as a starting claim to verify, not a universal status.

Can my employer require a course that my state does not?

Yes. Employers and contracts routinely require training the law does not — OSHA Outreach cards are the classic example, since the federal program is voluntary — and an employer can also decline to accept training the law would allow. Employer acceptance is its own system: confirm in writing which course, provider and card your employer requires before enrolling.

How long after finishing a course is the result actually accepted?

It depends on the slowest step in the certificate-to-acceptance chain, not the fastest. Course completion, the provider's certificate, provider reporting or transmission, authority or registry processing, and court, employer or insurer acceptance are separate stages, and the clock is usually set by reporting cadence, official posting, mailed-card delivery or clerk processing. An instant certificate does not guarantee instant acceptance, dismissal, posting or licensing.

What if my state or course is not listed?

This page publishes only verified rows, so a missing row means "not confirmed yet" — not "not required." Use the official directory for your course family above to reach your own state's authority today, then run the seven-step verification sequence yourself. Never infer your state's rule from a neighboring state or from a provider's marketing.

Your next step

Pick your course family in the router above and your state, then open the governing authority's current requirement page and its provider, course or school list before you compare prices. Match the exact course, delivery mode and intended use, note your deadline and what happens if you miss it, then continue to the guide that owns your situation. Ten minutes on an official list is the cheapest insurance against paying for a certificate you cannot use.

Sources and last verified date

Last verified: August 10, 2026

Next review: November 10, 2026

• Outreach Training Program — Occupational Safety and Health Administration — Voluntary status of Outreach training, OSHA-authorized trainers and providers, 10- and 30-hour course-completion cards, and the limitation that Outreach does not meet the training requirements of any specific OSHA standard.
• Find a Trainer — Occupational Safety and Health Administration — Locating OSHA-authorized Outreach trainers and online providers.
• State Plans — Occupational Safety and Health Administration — States operating their own occupational safety and health programs, which may add requirements beyond the federal baseline.
• Training Provider Registry — Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration — ELDT training required before certain CDL tests, provider and training-type registry listings and search, and provider submission of completion certifications by midnight of the second business day after training.
• Driver Education and Safety — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation — Texas licensing of driver education and driving safety providers.
• Driver Education Provider Search — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation — Public license-status directory for driver education providers, and its statement that inclusion is not an endorsement and that some public-school courses are not included.
• Driving Safety Provider Search — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation — Public license-status directory for Texas driving safety (defensive driving) providers.
• Validate a Driving Safety Certificate — Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation — Official certificate validation tool for Texas driving safety and driver education certificates.
• Licensing of Food Handler Training Programs — Texas Department of State Health Services — Texas rule that many food service employees complete an accredited food handler course within 30 days of getting a job, and DSHS licensing of accredited online, classroom and private programs.
• Accredited Food Handler Internet (Online) Training Programs — Texas Department of State Health Services — The published accredited-program list with each licensee's DSHS license number.
• TABC Certification — Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission — TABC's strong recommendation of seller/server certification through TABC-approved schools, its safe-harbor relevance, and the separate free, legally required annual opioid-related drug overdose course for sellers and servers at certain businesses.
• TABC Certification Schools — Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission — The agency-approved seller/server school list and TABC's published route for confirming whether an unlisted online program is approved.
• Approved Course Search — Texas Real Estate Commission — TREC approval of qualifying education providers and of individual qualifying and continuing education courses, searchable by provider name, provider license number, city, delivery method and course type.
• Boating Safety Education Identification Card — Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission — Florida's rule for operators born on or after January 1, 1988 using vessels with engines of 10 horsepower or more, the approved-course requirement, the nonexpiring ID card, card-issuance timing and the distinction that the card is not a boating license.
• Boating Safety Courses — Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission — Florida's approved boating safety courses.
• Division of Boating and Waterways — California State Parks — California's requirement that, beginning January 1, 2025, all boaters regardless of age carry a California Boater Card when operating a motorized vessel on state waterways.
• Boating Education — New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation — Brianna's Law course requirement for all motorized-vessel operators, minimum course hours and student age, the state-approved online provider list, temporary and permanent certificate rules, and the separate permanent-certificate fee for students 18 and older.
• Certified Food Handler and Manager — Los Angeles County Department of Public Health — California Food Handler Card requirement for food employees, the accredited-organization requirement, the rule that employers pay for the employee's time and expense, card portability, and the volunteer exclusion.
• State motor vehicle services — USAGov — Official directory of driver-licensing and motor-vehicle agencies for all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
• Federal, state, territory, county, and municipal courts — USAGov — Official routing to state, territory, county and municipal court directories.
• State health departments — USAGov — Official directory of state health departments for all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
• Alcohol Beverage Authorities in United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico — Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau — Federal directory of state and local alcohol beverage authorities; last updated by TTB September 19, 2025.
• State Boating Laws — U.S. Coast Guard Boating Safety Division — Federal routing to state boating law information and state boating contacts.
• State Boating Contacts — National Association of State Boating Law Administrators — Per-state boating law administrator and boating safety education contacts; an association directory referenced by the U.S. Coast Guard.
• Regulatory Agencies — Association of Real Estate License Law Officials — Directory of real-estate regulatory agencies; an association membership directory rather than a government list.
• National Helpline — Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration — Free, confidential, 24-hour treatment referral and information service in English and Spanish.