STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2562

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2490

       S.D. 2

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2014

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection, to which was referred S.B. No. 2490, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO CONTINUING COMPETENCY FOR NURSES,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to:

     (1)  Require licensed registered nurses and licensed practical nurses to submit evidence of continuing competency at each renewal period, beginning with the June 30, 2015, licensing biennium;

     (2)  Set requirements for continuing competency for licensed registered nurses and licensed practical nurses; and

     (3)  Require each licensee to keep and maintain records showing that continuing competency has been completed.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Pali Momi Medical Center, Hawai‘i Pacific Health, and one individual.  Your Committee received comments on this measure from the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division of the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs and Board of Nursing.

     Your Committee finds that continuing competence is the ongoing application of knowledge and the decision making, psychomotor, and interpersonal skills expected of licensed nurses within a specific practice setting, which results in nursing care that contributes to the health and welfare of clients served.  This measure encourages licensed registered nurses and licensed practical nurses to embrace lifelong learning as an essential key to delivering safe, high quality patient care.

     Your Committee has heard the concerns from the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division and the Board of Nursing about the staffing and funding needed to implement the continuing competence requirements proposed by this measure.  Your Committee understands these concerns and concludes the continuing competence requirements should be delayed until June 30, 2017.  Your Committee is confident that these requirements can be adequately implemented by that time without overburdening either the Board of Nursing or the Professional and Vocational Licensing Division.  However, to better ensure the successful implementation of this measure, your Committee finds that the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs should work in collaboration with the Center for Nursing and convene a stakeholder group to address any outstanding issues associated with this measure.

     Accordingly, your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Specifying that the continuing competence requirements for licensed registered nurses and licensed practical nurses shall take effect beginning with the June 30, 2017, licensing biennium;

     (2)  Requiring the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, in collaboration with the Center for Nursing, to convene a stakeholder group to address any outstanding issues associated with the implementation of the continuing competence requirements pursuant to this measure and report to the Legislature no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Sessions of 2015 and 2016;

     (3)  Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2014; and

     (4)  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. 2490, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2490, S.D. 2.

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

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair