February 26, 2019

Last week was the last chance for bills to be heard in their house of origin; if a bill was not heard by a committee by the end of the week it is now considered dead - meaning there is no chance of being passed in its current form this session. Some topics of dead bills may still crop up in a "strike everything" bill. Fortunately, the primary bills AzNA has been pushing passed successfully out of committee at some point in the last few weeks.

You can read summaries of these bills and check where they are in the legislative process by visiting the AzNA Nurses List of Bills.

SB2068 (CNS prescribing) is awaiting final vote in the House before moving to the Senate;

SB1096 (Healthcare workforce database) has passed out of the Senate and is awaiting committee hearing in the House;

SB1134 (Kid's Care) has passed one committee but needs to be advanced by the Appropriations Committee. However, this may become part of budget negotiations;

HB2503 (Assault on health care workers) passed unanimously last week from the House Judiciary Committee and has momentum behind it.

Big Leaps Forward for the Assault Bill

Thank you to our nurses who provided testimony before the Judiciary Committee about their experiences being assaulted on the job. Not only has HB2503 advanced, but more attention to this issue has been generated. Watch our nurses testify during the hearing for 2503. Another bill, HB2041, which will require reporting of these incidents, passed successfully out of House Health and Human Services Committee this week.

Thank you to all of our nurses who took the AzNA Health Care Worker Assault Survey (Deadline March 1). Your answers will help educate legislators on the scope of work that needs to be done in this arena so that these bills can continue to move forward through the legislative process.

Immunization Issues

On another note, three bills (HB 2470, 2471 and 2472) which would expand exemptions to vaccinations and impose more hurdles and requirements on providing vaccinations, passed by a 5-4 vote out of House Health and Human Services after nearly 4 hours of testimony and discussion. AzNA is very concerned with these bills. You should already have received an email asking you to contact legislators to educate them on the dangers of lowering vaccination rates.