Nurses Day at the Capitol!

Thank you for your dedication to being an Advocate - for nurses and the patients we care for.

Our voice is strong together - standing side by side in the House and Senate Chamber - being recognized by our state legislators - sent a powerful message.

Much appreciation for the Governor's Nurses Month proclamation, and the support of the Public Health Committee - Sen. Anwar, Rep. McCarthy Vahey, Sen Somers and Rep. Klarides-Ditra and Rep. Parker

The 2024 Session has ended.

Join CT Nurses Association

Request to join the Government Relations Committee

HB 5058 : Nurse Licensure Compact - Passed

Final bill language: HB 5058 AAA Nurse Licensure Compact

Addendum adding the workgroup

Update on HB 5058 an act Implementing the Nurse Licensure Compact

 The House passed HB 5058 An Act Implementing the Nurse Licensure Compact (4/18) – and the Senate passed it on 5/8/2024 with 8 hours left in the session.

We were able to work with the PHC Chairs (McCarthy Vahey and Anwar) our nursing stakeholders, including AFT, and the Governor's office to address many of the major issues other states have identified with the implementation of the Nurse Licensure Compact. Sen. Anwar clarified the intent of the working group, paving the way to continue to address issues as the compact gets implemented.

Our concerns for HAVEN

• HAVEN Funding: will remain financially stable for the time being – the bill amendment now includes an additional allocation of funds from the General fund to HAVEN. It will, for the time being,  cover the loss of funds from less nurses purchasing a CT license ( nurses with a state of residence in a compact state outside of CT no longer need to buy a CT license – there are 26K nurses licensed in CT with a home address out of the state- they will mostly no longer need a CT license. This number will decline slowly over time)

• HAVEN and Confidentiality for Nurses in the Program- a pathway was created for a CT multistate nurse to avoid getting a flag on their license if they are in an alternate to discipline (ATD) program before converting to a Single State License. Please note: all nurses (that have a compact in any state across the country) that are enrolled in an ATD program are not allowed to have a multi-state license (MSL) – they are only allowed to have a single state license (ssl) in their state of residence- this will only prevent the flag- all are required to lose their multi state license privliges.
  

Thus our concern around mental health stigma in licensing, regulations and hiring practices related to the single state license, as other states have reported. We need your help in continuing to monitor, understand, and advocate to fight stigma.

COMPACT WORKING GROUP

An amendment established an implementation work group to advise implementation, evaluation and address remaining concerns while the compact is being implemented. It is through the vehicle of the task force that we hope to address our concern about:

1. Mental Health Stigma: Strategies to mitigate creating a system that stigmatizes nurses choosing a single state license (we have heard this from other states that have been in the compact for over 20 years) as noted above.

2. Data. We are going to be in a huge data hole. As the 26K nurses no longer get a CT license we will not know when they are in our state working. We will never know when nurses using the compact are working in CT or when CT nurses are leaving. We need to identify the information we need to evaluate workforce as well as the impact of the implementation of the compact.

3. Nurse Practice Act: provide pathways to ensure the CT Nurse Practice Act and resources to support scope of practice in CT are understood by out of state nurses using the compact in CT.

4. Evaluation of the Compact for the 3 year sunset: the workgroup will support the identification and collection of measurable outcomes to understand impact of the compact.

As you can hear Sen. Anwar discuss we will also be monitoring the cost of the CT nursing license, and ensuring the state will not mandate anyone to get a MSL (this happened in RI) and may further contribute to the notion that nurses with a single state license have an issue that prevents them from getting the MSL v its just a choice to have the SSL. We hope this will buffer SSL stigma in the meantime.

 We will also be on the look out for any proposed changes to the nurse licensure fees.

As always we appreciate all of your attention and advocacy. Together we are stronger and more informed!

June 27-24 Update
Week 11 (5-10-24)
Week 10 (5-3-24)
Week 9 (4-26-24)
Week 8 (4-19-24)
Week 7 (4-12-24)
Week 6 (3-15-24)
Week 5 (3-8-24)
Week 4 (3-1-24)
Week 3 (2-23-24)
Week 2 (2-16-24)
Week 1 (2/7-2/9/24)

Bills that Passed

• SB 1 Health and Safety of Connecticut  (Sec. 1-9 workplace violence).  Inclusive of hospice and palliative care workgroup. Also incorporated portions of SB 365. Workplace Safety/Workplace Violence
• HB 5001: AA Supporting CT's Seniors and Improvement of Nursing and Home Based Care.
  

• 5058 Adopting the Nurse Licensure Compact

• HB 5488 AAC Revisions to PH Statutes.
• HB 5290 AAC The DPH Recommendations (Sec. 7 MOLST, Sec. 3 SBHC Advisory school nurse appointment)
• 133 Regulation of Prescription Drugs and Related Professions 
  
• 5197 Concerning Social Workers (compact)
• HB 5198 AAC Telehealth
  

Bill Related to CNA appointed Task Forces

• 181 ER Crowding and Boarding
• SB 154 AAC Schools. Incorporated new school nurse orientation  in Sec. 15 from SB 363 ASSORTED REVISIONS TO THE EDUCATION STATUTES. (School nurse orientation)

• 176 REQUIRING A PLAN TO ESTABLISH A HOSPICE PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN

• 365 Safety in the Health Care Workforce: incorporated into SB 1
  
• 369 (DEAD) AAC Healthcare Worker Safety, testimony
• Multiple bills related to purchase of safety, tracking and communication devices has died

128 Flame Retardant Chemicals in Children's Products 

46  An Act Concerning Professional Application And Licensing Fees. (keep licensing fees below $100)

273 Nursing Home Staffing

16 - Revenue Items to Implement the Governor's budget  ( * Sections 1-5 waive initial application fees for RN, LPN, APRN) DIED Similiar bills also died to cap nurse licensure fees

SB 177 Authorizing Naturopathic Physicians to Prescribe Medication, Died

2024 Legislative Agenda