ANA: 2008-2009 Nationwide State Legislative Agenda

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

from ana's nursing world:

nationwide state legislative agenda, 2008-2009 reports

welcome to the state legislative trends summary. highlighted are ten state legislative trends ana is promoting across the country as part of its nationwide state legislative agenda.

this is the tenth year constituent member (state nurses) associations (cmas) have worked in coordination with ana to implement a nationwide state legislative agenda that focuses on improving the health care environment for patients and nurses. priority issues addressed include: prohibition of mandatory overtime; mandatory development and implementation of valid and reliable nurse staffing systems; whistleblower protections for nurses who want to report unsafe conditions without retribution; mandatory collection of nursing supply and demand data for state nursing workforce projections; initiatives to require nurses advance education in nursing and funding for nursing education; protection of the title "nurse" thereby protecting the public against those who are not nurses but identify themselves as such; requiring health care facilities to develop programs to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders and eliminate manual patient handling; elimination of mercury in health care devices; and collection of patient outcomes most affected by nursing care.

ana's state government affairs program monitors over 2,000 health care bills affecting nursing and the general public as part of the “nationwide state legislative agenda”. the sources for legislative updates include statescape tracking service. lexis-nexis and information reported to ana by state nurses associators.

since this summary serves as a quick reference, readers are encouraged to access the accompanying full reports for each category in order to determine the legislative approach taken by each state. periodic updates are provided.

to date through february 2, 2009, state legislators responded with the establishment of laws / regulations / resolutions as follows:

elimination of mercury in the health care setting

prohibit use of mercury in thermometers in 16 states:

• ca, ct, il, in, la, me, md, ma, mi, mn, nh, nj*, ny, or, ri, wa
  nj legislation does not apply to thermometers used in health care
  

prohibit the sale and distribution of mercury in medical products in 9 states:

• la, me, ma, mi, mn, nh, ny, vt, wa
  

restrict the use of thimerosal in vaccines in 4 states:

• de, il, nm, wa
  

restriction in use of mandatory overtime—in 15 states:

• ct, il, md, mn, nh, nj, ny, or, pa, ri, wa, wv (legislated)
  
• ca, mo, tx (regulations)
  

nursingeducation a number of funding initiatves are enacted each year in several states; refer to the full report for specifics

mandatory continuing education for rn licensure renewal required - 31 states

al, ak, ar, ca, de, dc, fl, il, ia, ks, ky, la, ma, mi, mn, mi, ne, nv, nh, nj, nm, nc, oh, pa, ri, sc, tx, ut, vi, wv, wy

the rn to bsn in ten years initiative is described in the full report.

nursing quality indicators—in 5 states:

co, ct, me, ri; tx [regulations] ; fl passed legislation to study (1996)

nurse staffing plans and ratios—enacted legislation/adopted regulations in 13 states plus dc:

• ca, ct, fl, il, nj, oh, or, ri, vt, wa; tx [regulations];
  
• states requiring staffing plans include: ct, il, oh, or, ri, tx, wa
  
• states requiring disclosure: nj, vt
  
• dc and me* - changed from orginal intent; currently without a staffing mandate
  
• nv - legislation required a study
  

nursing workforce data collection—in 40 states:

• al, ak, az, ca, co, ct, de, fl, ga, hi, id, il, in, ia, ky, la, md, me, ma, mi, ms, ne, nv, nh, nj, nm, nc, nd, ok, or, pa, sc, sd, tn, tx, vt, va, wa, wv, wi
  

safe patient handling and movement — enacted in 8 states:

• md, mn, nj, ny, oh, ri, tx, wa; plus hi [resolution]
  

title "nurse" protection— statutory protections in at least 25 states:

• az, ca, co, fl, hi, ky, id, md, mn, mo, ne, nv, nm, ny, nc, nd, ri, sc, tn, tx, ut, wa, wv, wi, wy
  

whistleblower protection—in 20 states:

• az, ca, co, fl, ga, hi, il, in, me, md, mi, nv, nj, ny, or, tx, ut, vt, va, and wv
  * refer to the report for specific protections.
  

workplace violence—in 14 states:

• il, me, nj, ny, or, wa, wv ; hi (resolution)
  
• al, az, co, hi, il, nv, nc, and nm each responded with increased penalties for violence affecting nurses.
  

every effort is made to provide a comprehensive and accurate summary, however omissions are possible.

questions should be directed to ana’s government affairs program at [email protected].

[VORB]

>

>>"...protection of the title "nurse" thereby

>>protecting the public against those who are

>>not nurses but identify themselves as such"

>

I used to eat breakfast with a guy who would lift up his empty coffee cup toward the waitress and say, "Nurse!?" I guess this would eliminate such behavior.