STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1113-04
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2004
RE: S.B. No. 2899
S.D. 2
H.D. 1
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2004
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce, to which was referred S.B. No. 2899, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, entitled:
"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NURSES,"
begs leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this bill is to improve the nursing laws of the State by:
(1) Updating chapter 457, Hawaii Revised Statutes (chapter 457), which controls the licensure of advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), registered nurses, and licensed practical nurses;
(2) Removing the sunset date on the portion of Act 192, Session Laws of Hawaii 2002, that transfers from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to the Board of Nursing (Board), authority for determining the requirements for, and granting prescriptive authority to, qualified APRNs; and
(3) Requiring the Board to report to the 2005 Legislature on the effects of the Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools Examinations and English Proficiency Examinations on nurse applicants for licensure and the nurse shortage.
The specific amendments made to the nurse licensing law include those that:
(1) Conform chapter 457 to laws providing for APRN licensure and prescriptive authority;
(2) Require license applicants who graduated from foreign schools of nursing to provide proof of eligibility for licensure;
(3) Require documents submitted by license applicants to be retained by the Board for two years;
(4) Modify APRN formulary reporting by the Board of Medical Examiners to require the reporting of amendments, only;
(5) Allow the Board more discretion in determining whether nurses who have been inactive for more than five years should be reexamined; and
(6) Remove the obsolete or duplicative grandfathering, exam proctoring, examination fee, and nurse education program survey provisions.
Testimony in support of this measure was received from the Board and from the Hawaii Nurses Association.
Your Committee finds that this bill will improve the nurse licensing law, which presently contains inconsistencies, obsolete provisions, and ambiguities.
As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2899, S.D. 2, H.D. 1, and recommends that it pass Third Reading.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Consumer Protection and Commerce,
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____________________________ KENNETH T. HIRAKI, Chair |
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