Nationwide State Legislative Agenda, 2008-2009 Reports
Welcome to the State Legislative Trends Summary
Highlighted are the priority state legislative issues 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 execute a Nationwide State Legislative Agenda that focuses on improving the healthcare 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;
- restriction in use of the title "nurse" thereby protecting the public against those who are not nurses but identify themselves as such;
- requiring healthcare facilities to develop programs to prevent work-related musculoskeletal disorders through elimination of manual patient lifting;
- elimination of mercury in healthcare devices;
- safer chemicals policy(s); and
- collection of patient outcomes most affected by nursing care.
ANA's State Government Affairs program monitors over 3,000 state healthcare related bills as part of the “Nationwide State Legislative Agenda”. Sources include StateScape Tracking Service, Lexis-Nexis, and information reported by state nurses associatons.
Below is a quick reference as to state action (laws, regulations, resolutions) related to each issue. Readers are encouraged to access the accompanying full reports for each category in order to determine the approach taken by each state. Periodic updates are provided.
As of September 23, 2009:
Restriction in Use of Mandatory Overtime—(15 States):
- CT, IL, MD, MN, NH, NJ, NY, OR, PA, RI, TX, WA, WV (legislated)
- CA, MO (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— (5 states):
CO, CT, ME, RI; TX [regulations]; FL passed legislation to study (1996)
Nurse Staffing Plans and Ratios—enacted legislation/adopted regulations (14 states plus DC)
- CA legislated mandated ratios
- states requiring staffing committees with plans /levels specific to each unit include: CT, IL, NV, OH, OR, TX, WA
- states requiring disclosure: NJ, NY, RI, VT
*DC and ME - changed from orginal intent; currently without a staffing mandate resulting in only 12 states with current staffing laws
MN (not included in the final count) included a provision in law in which halth care facilities are required to consider staffing levels and their impact on an adverse event when conducting a root cause analysis.
Nursing Workforce Data Collection—(41 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, RI, SC, SD, TN, TX, VT, VA, WA, WV, WI
Safe Patient Handling—(9 states):
- IL, MD, MN, NJ, NY, OH, RI, TX, WA; plus HI [resolution]
Title "Nurse" Protection—statutory protections in at least 27 states:
- AZ, CA, CO, FL, HI, KY, ID, MD, MN, MS, MO, NE, NV, NM, NY, NC, ND, RI, SC, TN, TX, UT, VT, WA, WV, WI, WY
Whistleblower Protection—(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—(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.
Chemical Policy Reform
Bisphenol A (BPA) & Chemicals Policy Reform
- CT, MN ban the use of BPA in childrens' products
Elimination of Mercury in the Healthcare Setting
Prohibit Use of Mercury in Thermometers (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 (4 states):
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 gova@ana.org.