WSNA in Olympia – Major wins of the 2022 session

In this week’s update:

• End of Session
• Budget Priorities Funded
• Policy Priority Wins

End of Session

The Legislature adjourned Sine Die yesterday, March 10, marking the end of the 2022 Washington State Legislative session. This session presented a range of challenges during another remote session and on the tails of the second year of COVID. Despite the challenges, nurses showed up with a loud and clear voice and we have significant wins to show for it. Stay tuned for a full end of session report next, but until then, take a look at some of the major wins of the 2022 session.

Budget Priorities Funded

Typically, the 2022 supplemental budget only contains minor adjustments to the prior year’s budget. But legislators heard that something needed to be done to address the health care workforce pipeline, and time was of the essence. As a result, the budget contains significant funding for nurse workforce development. The budget also includes funding for school nurses and improving credentialing. Here are some of the standout provisos:

• Nurse Credentialing - $4.5 million to address the credentialing backlog and issue licenses 7 days after application
• School Nurse Funding – $91 million to increase minimum allocations of school nurses, psychologists, social workers and counselors in the prototypical school funding model over a three-year period. (HB 1664)
• Preceptor Grants – $6 million in new funding to establish a grant program for nursing student supervision in the health care setting.
• Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) training funding
  • $1.1 million to create a stipend program to reimburse nurses for costs associated with becoming a SANE and for hospitals to establish a grant program
  • $122,000 to the University of Washington for additional SANE training
  • $188,000 to Washington State University to establish a SANE training program (HB 1622)
• Nurse Educator Loan Repayment – HB 2007
  • $3 million to the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC) to establish a Nurse Educator loan repayment program
• Funding to Nursing programs at Four Year Universities
  • $3.6 million to WSAC for nursing programs to purchase or upgrade health care simulation labs
  • $1.5 million to the University of Washington to add additional nursing slots and graduates to their Nursing bachelor’s in science program
  • $6.2 million to Eastern Washington University to establish a bachelor’s in science nursing program
  • $461,000 to Western Washington University to establish a master’s in nursing program
  • $433,000 to Western Washington University for the RN to bachelor’s in science nursing program
• Funding to Nursing Programs at Community & Technical Colleges
  • $8 million for purchasing or upgrading equipment for simulation labs
  • $8 million for health workforce grants to help incentivize students to enter the health care workforce
  • $3.8 million to add at least 50 nursing slots for the 2022-23 academic year and 200 new nursing slots for the 23-25 academic year and to purchase 2 simulation vans.

Policy Priority Wins

This session also brought several policy successes. We were extremely disappointed that HB 1868, the safe staffing bill did not make it out this year. The Legislature did take action on a few smaller but significant bills for nurses.

Nurse Delegation (Glucose) – PASSED
Sponsor: Rep. Eileen Cody (D-Seattle)

SHB 1124 allows registered nurses to delegate glucose monitoring and testing to a registered or certified nursing assistant or a certified home care aide. HB 1124 was originally introduced in 2021 but did not make it out of the Senate by cutoff. At the start of the 2022 session, HB 1124 was reintroduced on the Senate side in the Health Care committee. The bill passed the Senate unanimously. The bill is currently on the Governor’s desk waiting for his signature. This bill was also funded in the budget.

Surgical Smoke – PASSED
Sponsor: Rep. Lisa Callan (D-Issaquah)

SHB 1779 requires hospitals and ambulatory care facilities to adopt policies requiring the use of smoke evacuation systems for planned surgical procedures. The bill also creates a Surgical Smoke Evacuation Account for Critical Access Hospitals and SOLE community hospitals to receive reimbursement for their upgrades. The act takes effect January 1, 2024 for the majority of hospitals and January 1 2025 for critical access hospitals and SOLE community hospitals. The amended version of the bill passed the Senate 44 to 5 and the House concurred 81 to 17. The bill is waiting to be delivered to the Governor.

Thank you for being part of the process during the 2022 legislative session.