STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2490

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2862

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health, to which was referred S.B. No. 2862 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NURSING,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to allow the Board of Nursing to more fully participate in Nursys, a national nurse licensee database, by sharing license and disciplinary action information.

     Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from the Board of Nursing; University of Hawai‘i at Manoa School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene; Hawai‘i State Center for Nursing; Hawai‘i Pacific Health; Prime Care Services Hawaii, Incorporated; American Organization of Nurse Executives, Hawaii Chapter; Bradley Kuo, LLC; and five individuals.

     Your Committee finds that Nursys is a national nurse license database operated by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing.  Hawaii is one of four states that do not fully participate in Nursys.  Currently, the Board of Nursing submits disciplinary action to Nursys.  If a Hawaii-licensed nurse is also licensed in another state, the other state is immediately notified of that disciplinary action.  Your Committee further finds that Hawaii's inability to fully participate in Nursys makes it difficult for other states to verify a nurse's license status and may jeopardize consumer protection if the Board of Nursing does not receive timely notices of disciplinary actions taken in other states.  Accordingly, this measure allows the Board to fully participate in Nursys by sharing license information, which will enable Hawaii to be timely notified of disciplinary actions taken in another state against a Hawaii licensee.  This measure will also enable individual nurses to have their Hawaii nurse licenses verified almost immediately, thus streamlining the verification process and alleviating some of the workload for Board of Nursing staff.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2862 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

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

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ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair