STAND. COM. REP. NO.  846

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2013

RE:   H.B. No. 654

      H.D. 2

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 654, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NURSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to support effective workforce planning and policymaking in the health care industry, including improved data collection to optimize the functions of the Hawaii State Center for Nursing, by requiring:

     (1)  The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Professional and Vocational Licensing Division to:

(A)  Collaborate with the Hawaii State Center for Nursing to enable the Hawaii State Center for Nursing to obtain nursing-related data, including workforce data of nurses licensed in the State; and

(B)  Provide nurse licensee contact information, including e-mail addresses, to the Center for Nursing, through a Memorandum of Understanding; and

(2)  Each applicant, as part of the license renewal process for nursing, to complete a survey developed by the Hawaii State Center for Nursing.

The Office of Information Practices, University of Hawaii School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, The Queen's Health Systems, Hawaii Pacific Health, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, Hawaii Association of Professional Nurses, American Academy of Nurse Practitioners and several individuals testified in support of this measure.  The Hawaii State Board of Nursing and Hawaii State Center for Nursing testified in support of this measure and provided amendments.  The Professional and Vocational Licensing Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs offered comments on this measure.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Removing the requirement that the rules to be adopted by the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, in collaboration with the Center for Nursing to effectuate the purposes of this Act, be subject to the Uniform Information Practices Act, Chapter 92F, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and

     (2)  Clarifying that the survey, provided to nurses as part of the nursing license renewal process, be a request rather than a mandate.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 654, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 654, H.D. 2.

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

____________________________

ANGUS L.K. McKELVEY, Chair