March 19, 2019

The Death of a Bill is not Uncommon

As the session moves along, AzNA constantly modifies the list of bills we are following. Bills that do not progress are considered dead. They will still appear on our Nurses List of Bills, but will be moved the bottom of the document. During a legislative session it is not uncommon for over 50% of the bills to die.

Healthcare Workers Database Bill Moves One Step Closer to Passing

AzNA remains optimistic about SB1096, the healthcare workers database, which passed unanimously out of the House Health and Human Services Committee last week. It moves to the Appropriations Committee this week because the bill has a financial component ($50,000 to fund Arizona Department of Health Services who will administrate the database). Strategy is focused on educating members of the Appropriations Committee about the importance of our bill.

And We Wait...

Work continues as AzNA educates legislators about CNSs and the CNS prescribing authority bill, HB2068. The bill is not on this week’s Senate Health and Human Services Committee calendar, however Senator Brophy-McGee (chair) assures AzNA it will be on next week's calendar.

Assaults Bills Highlight Important Issue Nurses Deal with Daily

HB2041, hospital assaults; testing; reporting; sanctions; which requires reporting of assaults by the institutions. That data will then be studied to determine where there are problems in the system and where additional actions may be necessary. This bill passed out of the House and has already passed through the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. Since this bill has not met much resistance along the way, it has a chance of passing out of the Senate within the next few weeks. If this happens, the next stop is the Governor’s desk.

HB2503, assault; health care practitioner; classification; which would increase the penalty for assaulting health care workers, is still awaiting a hearing in the Senate Judiciary Committee after passing out of the House.

Why Next Week is So Important

Bills that passed through the house of origin are now in the opposite chamber. The week of March 25th is the last week for bills to be heard in the opposite chamber committee. Most committee agendas will be REALLY long! Our lobbyists are prepared for marathon days. If a bill doesn’t get heard in committee it will officially be dead. Bills that pass out of committee still have to go through a few more steps to survive.