Oregon created a separate Public Adjuster license by rule — OAR 836-071-1100 through 1195 — effective August 1, 2025, administered by the Division of Financial Regulation. The examination is PSI’s Series 12-12, the Oregon Adjuster’s Examination, Public Adjuster: 100 questions in 120 minutes, with a 70% passing standard, for a license covering first-party property claims. PassProfessor’s Oregon Public Adjuster program is in the works, built on the new rule and PSI’s outline for this series.
This program is part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog — join the notify list and we’ll email you when enrollment opens.
Oregon is the newest license in this family, and the only one whose candidates can remember a time it did not exist. For years Oregon licensed adjusters generically, with no distinct public adjuster credential; by rule filed in July 2025 and effective August 1, 2025 — OAR 836-071-1100 through 1195 — the Division of Financial Regulation created a separate Public Adjuster license, with its own examination series, its own scope, and its own exemptions. Almost everything written about Oregon adjusting before that date describes the old world. PassProfessor’s Oregon Public Adjuster program is in the works as part of the expanding PassProfessor catalog, built on the new rule and on PSI’s Series 12-12 outline, and on nothing older.
Which license is this?
This page covers the Oregon Public Adjuster license created in 2025, issued by DFR. The license is deliberately narrow: a public adjuster under the rule works first-party property claims, and the license does not extend to auto. It is distinct from Oregon’s generic adjuster licensing, which continues for insurer-side work, and the Series 12-12 examination is a public-adjuster sitting, not the general adjuster examination with a new label. Nonresident applicants must already hold the equivalent public adjuster license in their home state. Candidates reading pre-2025 Oregon adjuster material should set it aside: the license it describes is not this one.
What will the program cover?
Original practice material, written to this state’s published outline. The program is being built from scratch against the PSI content outline for the Oregon Public Adjuster examination (Series 12-12): every practice set is organised by the outline’s own sections and weighted the way the outline weights them. No practice item is an actual examination item, and none is drawn from another provider’s material; items are written as the working decisions of a public adjuster — a described loss, a policy in front of you, a choice among plausible readings of it.
The license around the exam, not only the sitting. Passing the examination is one step in DFR licensure, and in this state it sits alongside fingerprinting and the application through NIPR that DFR decides. Preparation that drills items while leaving the route unmapped produces candidates who pass and then stall; this program keeps the whole route in view while keeping its centre of gravity on the examination itself.
Results you can read by outline section. Practice is reported section by section against the outline, so a candidate who is strong on coverage forms and thin on the Adjustment Process section, the largest single block on the outline can see the split while there is still time to repair it, instead of discovering it in a score report.
Preparation only. This program prepares candidates for the examination. It is not a DFR or PSI product, carries no credit from either, and does not satisfy any licensing requirement. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation (DFR) or PSI Services LLC.
Series 12-12 gives the Adjustment Process the largest single weight in the outline — 22% — ahead of Property and Casualty Insurance Basics at 20%. Oregon’s examiners, writing a brand-new examination for a brand-new license, put the practice of adjusting at the front. The program follows: adjustment process first, the property and casualty basics behind it, regulation at 15% taught from the new rule itself, OAR 836-071, which candidates can and should read in full — it is short, current, and the actual law of the license.
What are the verified facts of the license?
| Fact of record | Detail |
|---|---|
| License | Public Adjuster — a separate license created by rule, OAR 836-071-1100 to 1195, effective August 1, 2025, under ORS 744.521 |
| Regulator | Oregon Division of Financial Regulation (DFR), Department of Consumer and Business Services |
| Examination | Oregon Adjuster’s Examination, Public Adjuster — Series 12-12, administered by PSI Services LLC; required by OAR 836-071-1130, with exemptions at OAR 836-071-1135 |
| Format | 100 questions; 120 minutes; computer-based |
| Passing standard | 70%, per the PSI Oregon candidate bulletin (the higher minimum in that bulletin applies to the Crop examination only) |
| Scope | First-party property claims only; the license does not extend to auto (OAR 836-071-1100, 1105) |
| Pre-licensing education and bond | No required pre-license course; no surety bond |
| Fingerprinting and application | Fingerprinting required of applicants; application through NIPR ($30 application plus $45 issuance in state fees) |
| Continuing education | 24 hours every two years |
How does preparation map to the examination outline?
The published outline for this examination organises the sitting as follows. Preparation in the program in the works is organised on the same sections, in the same proportions.
| Outline section | Weight / character |
|---|---|
| Insurance Regulation | 15% |
| General Insurance Concepts | 13% |
| Property and Casualty Insurance Basics | 20% |
| Homeowners Policy | 10% |
| Adjustment Process | 22% |
| Remaining outline areas — dwelling, commercial property, businessowners, and other coverages | 20% combined |
Insurance Regulation (15%). Regulation items test the licensing machinery itself: who may act as a public adjuster, what the application and renewal require, which acts are prohibited, and what discipline the regulator can impose. Study this section from the primary text first and from summaries second; its items are written closely to the source.
General Insurance Concepts (13%). The basics block tests the vocabulary and architecture of insurance itself: risk, peril and hazard, insurable interest, indemnity, valued policy and agreed-value concepts, underwriting, and the parties to the contract. The efficient method here is worked examples: short scenarios, answered and reviewed, rather than rereading notes.
Property and Casualty Insurance Basics (20%). Terms and concepts items are definitional on the surface and applied underneath: actual cash value against replacement cost, coinsurance, proximate cause, negligence, liability, subrogation, and the standard conditions vocabulary. Preparation for this section should be built from the outline’s own subtopics, worked at examination pace.
Homeowners Policy (10%). Homeowners items work through the HO forms section by section: Section I property coverages and their internal limits, Section II liability, the named-perils against open-perils distinction, and the exclusions and conditions that decide real claims. Candidates most often underrate this section because its items look familiar from practice; the examination tests the published version, not the remembered one.
Adjustment Process (22%). The adjustment process block is the practice block: duties after a loss, investigation and documentation, estimating and valuation, the proof of loss, negotiation, the appraisal clause, and settlement options. Study this section from the primary text first and from summaries second; its items are written closely to the source.
Remaining outline areas — dwelling, commercial property, businessowners, and other coverages (20% combined). Commercial property items cover the commercial package and commercial property forms: causes-of-loss forms, coinsurance at commercial scale, business income and extra expense, equipment breakdown, and the endorsements that move coverage. The efficient method here is worked examples: short scenarios, answered and reviewed, rather than rereading notes.
Who earns this license?
Oregon’s first candidate cohorts are a distinctive population: experienced adjusters who worked the state’s losses under the generic license and now need the distinct credential, out-of-state public adjusters adding Oregon under the home-state requirement, and new entrants drawn by a license whose rules were written in 2025 and can be read in an afternoon. The state’s losses — wildfire in the Cascades foothills and southern Oregon, winter storms, water damage in the Willamette Valley — are the practice the license was built for, and the first-party property scope matches them.
What is the route to the license?
The rule’s route runs: pass Series 12-12 through PSI (subject to the exemptions at OAR 836-071-1135, which include certain public adjusters licensed in another state), complete fingerprinting, and apply through NIPR, with $30 application and $45 issuance in state fees. There is no pre-license course to complete first and no bond to file. NIPR began accepting applications for the license in August 2025. The companion guide walks the route and the rule’s structure section by section.
What makes this examination demanding?
A new examination carries a particular demand: there is no settled folklore about it. Candidates cannot lean on cohorts of predecessors, and study material written for Oregon’s old generic adjusting describes a different license. The demand is therefore documentary discipline — prepare from the rule and the PSI outline themselves — compounded by an outline that weights the adjustment process above the coverage material, so pure forms study, the usual refuge, underprepares a candidate for the largest block of the sitting.
An honest note on format
PassProfessor practice works in the format this examination uses — computer-based, multiple-choice, timed at the examination’s pace. The vendor does not release its examination items, and no provider can offer them. Practice results are a study gauge, not a prediction of a licensing outcome, and the examination decision and the licensing decision both belong to bodies other than PassProfessor.
How should you use this page while the program is in the works?
- Join the notify list today. Enrollment is not open yet, and the notify list is how you hear the moment it is. While you wait, read the exam guide — it walks the licensing route, the outline section by section, the sitting itself, and a preparation plan in full.
- Confirm the license before the syllabus. Read the ‘Which license is this?’ section above twice if your background is insurer-side adjusting or producing; in Oregon, the public adjuster credential is its own license with its own examination route.
- Start the application clock-watching early. The steps around the examination — in this state, fingerprinting and the application through NIPR that DFR decides — have their own lead times, and candidates who start them during preparation do not lose a season to paperwork after a pass.
- Study from the primary documents alongside any preparation. The vendor’s handbook or bulletin and the state’s adjuster law are the examination’s sources, and both are published for candidates.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Oregon Public Adjuster license? It is the license DFR issues to the adjuster who represents the insured — the policyholder — in a claim, rather than the insurer. Public Adjuster — a separate license created by rule, OAR 836-071-1100 to 1195, effective August 1, 2025, under ORS 744.521. The holder is retained by the insured, for compensation, to document, evaluate, and negotiate the insured’s claim.
Who regulates public adjusters in Oregon? the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation (DFR). The regulator writes or administers the licensing rules, receives the application, and issues the license; the examination vendor administers the test and nothing more.
What examination must Oregon public adjuster candidates pass? The Oregon Public Adjuster examination (Series 12-12), administered by PSI. 100 questions; 120 minutes; computer-based
What is the passing standard? 70%, per the PSI Oregon candidate bulletin (the higher minimum in that bulletin applies to the Crop examination only)
Is there a pre-licensing education requirement? No required pre-license course; no surety bond
What else does licensure require besides the examination? Licensure sits alongside fingerprinting and the application through NIPR that DFR decides. The examination is one input into the application; DFR issues the license on the completed file, and no candidate may act as a Oregon public adjuster before it issues.
How is a public adjuster different from an independent adjuster? By client. An independent adjuster adjusts claims on behalf of insurers; a public adjuster is retained by and represents the insured. The licenses, the duties, and in Oregon the licensing treatment are distinct, and preparation for one does not substitute for preparation for the other.
Does passing the examination make me a licensed public adjuster? No. Passing satisfies the examination requirement; the license issues when DFR approves the completed application. Acting as a public adjuster before the license issues is unlicensed practice, however the examination went.
When will the PassProfessor Oregon program open? The program is in the works and enrollment is not open yet. Join the notify list on this page and you will be emailed when enrollment opens; the companion exam guide is available to read now for planning your preparation.
Is PassProfessor affiliated with DFR or PSI? No. PassProfessor is an independent preparation provider, not affiliated with the Oregon Division of Financial Regulation (DFR) or PSI Services LLC. The regulator owns the license and the vendor administers the examination; this program is preparation only.