Nurses Score Two Legislative Victories

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Sep 29, 2003

sept 03 ana legislative update:

ana is celebrating two major legislative victories - one involving educational funding and another on overtime. ana lobbied hard for the passage of both measures. on sept. 10, the u.s. senate unanimously agreed to accept the amendment for nursing education funding submitted by sens. barbara mikulski (d-md) and susan collins (r-me). the amendment increases funding for federal nursing workforce development programs, including the nurse reinvestment act, by $50 million, which represents a 55 percent rise from fiscal year 2003 funding.

that same day, but in a very close vote, the senate voted to bar the bush administration from issuing new overtime pay rules. ana has many concerns about the potential effects of the rules changes on rns' working conditions and wages and on patient care. the department of labor put forth the rules changes earlier this year, and the house recently supported them. the challenge now is to ensure that nurses' voices continue to be heard as both of these measures move on to congressional committees, where negotiators will try to resolve differences between the senate and house. for more information, go to http://www.nursingworld.org/gova.

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ana, specialty groups plan joint effort for nursing education

funding

on august 25, ana ceo linda stierle and ana government affairs staff attended a meeting with more than a dozen nursing specialty organizations to discuss a coordinated lobbying campaign. ana and the specialty groups agreed that a joint effort is needed to secure additional federal funding for nursing education and recruitment. conversation centered on the need to fund all facets of nurse education, and the need to base funding requests on evidence. ana and the specialty organizations also entered into a preliminary discussion about a joint fiscal year 2005 appropriations request. this group will meet again before the end of the year to finalize the fy 2005 funding number and to work on a coordinated long-term appropriations campaign. contact: rose gonzalez, ext. 7098, or [email protected].

health care gains visibility as a campaign issue

ana president barbara blakeney, ms, aprn,bc, anp, laid out key factors behind the current staffing crisis and solutions to end it at a national health policy forum, which was held in iowa on august 14 and also featured candidates running for u.s. president. some 800 persons attended the fourth annual "governor's conference on public health" to hear the perspectives of leaders in health care, labor and policy who served on a panel addressing "the state of health in america." the iowa nurses association (ina) was one of the conference's sponsoring organizations, and many ina members attended the multi-session conference. read more about the forum in the september/october issue of the american nurse.