STAND. COM. REP. NO. 522

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 490

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 490, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NURSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to require:

     (1)  The Professional and Vocational Licensing Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and State Board of Nursing to collaborate with the Center for Nursing to enable the Center to obtain nursing-related data;

     (2)  The Professional and Vocational Licensing Division to provide the Center for Nursing with various types of information through a memorandum of understanding; and

     (3)  The completion of a survey developed by the Center for Nursing as part of the licensure renewal requirements of chapter 457, Hawaii Revised Statutes.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Hawai‘i State Center for Nursing, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, University of Hawaii at Hilo School of Nursing, University of Hawai‘i Maui College, Healthcare Association of Hawaii, Castle Medical Center, Hawai‘i Pacific Health, American Association of Nurse Practitioners, Hawai‘i Association of Professional Nurses, and six individuals.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, Hawaii State Board of Nursing, and one individual.

     Your Committee finds that this measure requires the Hawaii State Board of Nursing and the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs to provide nurse license contact information to the Hawaii State Center for Nursing.  This will enable the Center for Nursing to contact nurses and obtain workforce data to be used to determine the current and future trends of the nursing workforce.  This measure will also ensure that nurses licensed in Hawaii are able to contribute to and receive information on practice and regulatory changes, state and federal initiatives, and nursing research, thus promoting quality nursing care throughout the State.

     Your Committee has heard the concerns raised in the testimony regarding nursing-related data, the memorandum of understanding between the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division and the Hawaii State Center for Nursing, and other issues.  Your Committee notes that the term "nursing-related data" can be further delineated in the memorandum of understanding.  Other concerns raised by the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division can be addressed through the memorandum of understanding, which should also be used to establish additional details relating to the parameters of this measure with the laws applicable to both the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division and the Center for Nursing.

     Your Committee is encouraged by the continuing dialogue between the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division, Hawaii State Board of Nursing, and Hawaii State Center for Nursing.  Certain amendments to this measure are therefore necessary as a product of the collaborative efforts between these entities.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Specifying that a survey developed and deemed necessary by the Center for Nursing shall be requested, rather than required, as part of the license renewal process for nurses;

     (2)  Amending certain duties to be included in the memorandum of understanding to be responsibilities of the Center for Nursing, rather than of the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division;

     (3)  Removing potentially misleading language that stated the Center for Nursing shall abide by the requirements of chapter 92F, Hawaii Revised Statutes, as the Center for Nursing is already governed by the requirements of this chapter; and

     (4)  Amending the purpose section for clarity.

     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. 490, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 490, S.D. 2.

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

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair