STAND. COM. REP. NO. 40

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 26

       S.D. 1

Honorable Shan S. Tsutsui

President of the Senate

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 26 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED NURSE FEES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to eliminate the requirement to pay multiple licensing fees that are imposed upon advanced practice registered nurses.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawaii State Center for Nursing, the University of Hawaii System, Hawaii Government Employees Association, the University of Phoenix Hawaii Chapter, and three private individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Regulated Industries Complaints Office of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and the Board of Nursing.

     Your Committee finds that advanced practice registered nurses are important health care providers who perform a critical role in making health care accessible to individuals in the State.  Your Committee finds that advanced practice registered nurses are currently treated differently than every other regulated profession in that they are required to pay duplicative fees for licensure, including a fee for maintaining prescriptive authority which is not required of any other health care provider.  Finally, your Committee finds that these fees represent an unfair burden on advanced practice registered nurses and an unnecessary barrier to the development of the profession.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 26, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 26, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection,

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair