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03/29/2024 03:55 AM
Pennsylvania State Senate
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=S&SPick=20210&cosponId=37389
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Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: May 27, 2022 11:20 AM
From: Senator Lisa M. Boscola
To: All Senate members
Subject: Reexamining the State Board of Nursing
 
In the near future, I intend to introduce legislation that will reexamine the composition of the State Board of Nursing. Just recently, the Joint State Government Commission released a report that offered several legislative suggestions to improving our nurse licensure process in Pennsylvania. This proposal is based off those suggestions.

My legislation will change how our State Board of Nursing is comprised. Currently, we have 13 members on the State Board of Nursing with 12 of the 13 members being appointed by the Governor, with subsequent Senate confirmation. The 13th member is the Commissioner of Professional and Occupational Affairs.

The new State Board of Nursing will also be comprised of members appointed by the Governor, the President pro-tempore of the Senate, the Minority Leader of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Minority Leader of the House of Representatives shall each appoint one member to the Board. Additionally, the Commissioner of Professional and Occupational Affairs will remain on the Board.

However, additional members of the Board will be filled by nurses who are elected by their peers who hold valid Pennsylvania nursing licenses. The nurse candidates to be elected must include a nurse administrator in a hospital or hospital system, an advanced practice registered nurse, a staff nurse, a nurse educator and others to be determined. This method of electing nurses, by nurses, is modeled after North Carolina law.

Additionally, my legislation will require the newly formed State Board of Nursing to publish data that is related to the Commonwealth’s nursing workforce. This data will include, but is not limited to, information gathered through questionnaires that nursing applicants fill out regarding their education, demographics and employment.

For too long, we have been fielding complaints from nurses and nursing students about our licensure process in Pennsylvania. This legislation will allow the actual professionals to have a larger voice in the process. Let’s reduce some bureaucracy and create a State Board of Nursing that strives to streamline efficiency for our nurse workforce. Please join me in sponsoring this important piece of legislation.