Renewal of RN license with a ticket in another state

[SWRNUSA]

Hello. I graduated in May and I am working full time now as a nurse. Got my license and everything is going great but........... Friday I was going through some boxes from when I went to college in Louisiana back in 2007, and found some mail, one of which was a speeding ticket I never paid (I know I feel like a LOSER!) I live in Texas btw. I called the court house in Louisiana, and they said, yes I do have a ticket, and I have a warrant issued from 2007 and I need to pay $600 to remove both. I sent the money THAT DAY and I feel like such a tool because when I filled out my application to take NCLEX, I didn't list anything about the warrant because I truly did not know. I totally forgot about it, not that it matters. So here I am working as a nurse, my dream and I am so afraid when I go to renew in February, something will come up. I passed the FBI criminal check as well as the State and was issued my license. Is this because it was in another state that it didn't come up as an issue in Texas, and will it come up as an issue when I renew? What should I do? Should I pay it and go on about my business, or contact the BON to let them know?

[IEDave, ASN, CNA, LVN]

To paraphrase AN protocol - "You're not a REAL criminal - real criminals went to prison! We only talk to REAL criminals around here; come back when you're a REAL criminal..."

Seriously - pure speculation on my part (TOS forbids giving out legal advice, and I'm not an attorney) but I'd say that your BON wasn't too squinched about a minor traffic infraction. If it'd been a psych offense (gotta love the old 5150) or narcotics offense, yeah that'd raise some eyebrows and stopped the process in its tracks. In short - you got lucky. Good that you made good on the ticket; obviously save the receipt just in case it pops up in the future. Go forth, and sin no more.

----- Dave

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

Eh, I probably wouldn't give this a second thought. If it were me, I probably would have found the old ticket and thought "eh, they never sent me a 2nd notice or anything about an outstanding ticket" and forgotten about it.

[sissiesmama, ASN, RN]

OP, I agree with Dave above. I live in Louisiana and this happened to one of my coworkers. She had gotten a ticket in another state and forgotten to take care of it. When she realized, she was really worried - but finally called the La. BON and asked. They said they "had bigger fish to fry". o TOS break intended, just my friend's experience.

Good idea to keep that receipt!

Anne, RNC