STAND. COM. REP. NO.  179

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2019

 

RE:   H.B. No. 1363

      H.D. 1

 

 

 

 

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirtieth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2019

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Health and Intrastate Commerce, to which was referred H.B. No. 1363 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO NURSES,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this measure is to adopt the Nurse Licensure Compact, a multi-state compact that:

 

     (1)  Allows nurses licensed in other participating states to practice in the State without obtaining a separate state license; and

 

     (2)  Establishes Hawaii's participation in an interstate commission to oversee the administration and implementation of the Compact.

 

     The U.S. Department of Defense and two individuals testified in support of this measure.  The Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs' Regulated Industries Complaints Office, University of Hawaii School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene, Board of Nursing, and Hawaii Government Employees Association, AFSCME Local 152, AFL-CIO provided comments on this measure.


 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Removing language adopting the Nurse Licensure Compact into State law;

 

     (2)  Establishing a task force to be convened by the chairs of the House Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce and the Senate Committee on Commerce, Consumer Protection, and Health to identify potential issues that would arise from joining the Nurse Licensure Compact;

 

     (3)  Changing the effective date to July 1, 2050, to promote further discussion; and

 

     (4)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

 

     Your Committees note the concerns raised by both the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs' Regulated Industries Complaints Office and the Board of Nursing regarding issues of enforcement, discipline, and the unknown fiscal impacts that may arise if the State joins the compact.  Your Committees also note that thirty-one states have already joined this compact.  Your Committees are particularly concerned about the legislative powers granted to the interstate commission created by this compact.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Intrastate Commerce that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1363, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1363, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Consumer Protection & Commerce.


 

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Intrastate Commerce,

 

 

____________________________

TAKASHI OHNO, Chair

 

____________________________

JOHN M. MIZUNO, Chair