WSNA’s update from Olympia and the 2023 legislative session

1. Update on Safe Staffing Standards bill - TAKE ACTION NOW!

On Thursday the safe staffing bill was heard in the Senate Ways & Means committee. The Ways & Means committee is an opportunity for the Senate to consider the fiscal impact of a bill. Testifiers are required to speak to budgetary concerns. At the hearing, 19 people testified in support of the bill and 13 people testified in opposition. As a reminder, this committee is where the bill died last year in the 2022 legislative session.

We saw huge turn out from our nurses and supporters with the sign in process. Thank you to everyone who took action and signed in "pro" in support of this bill. 6,750 people signed in on the bill in total. Nearly 6 thousand people (5,718) signed in support, or "pro," of the staffing bill compared to just 997 people signing in opposed. You can watch testimony on the staffing bill here.

The committee will vote on whether to move the bill out of committee and to the Senate floor next week! That is why it is critical for your Senator to hear from you NOW about why this bill matters and why it is crucial that they act in support. Please, click the red button below and email your legislators about why they must pass SB 5236. Share the link with family, friends and colleagues and ask them to do the same TODAY. Legislators hearing from their own constituents that live in their districts has more impact than anything else you can be doing right now.

2. Presumptive Eligibility for Nurses with PTSD - Sign in support by 8am, Saturday, February 18

The House version of the bill, HB 1593, was moved out of committee this week. Rep. Ortiz-Self made moving comments in support of the bill.

“As you can tell I am really emotional from the stories and my own personal stories. I can’t imagine how [nurses] put all that aside daily to do this work. So, on behalf of every nurse out there that does this work to care for our loved ones, thank you. And you deserve the insurance coverage for the work that you do and at the very least you deserve to be covered for PTSD that you hopefully will not experience but many do that go undiagnosed because they have to keep doing it to feed their families.”

Additionally, Chair Berry specifically mentioned the nurses that visited her office over Lobby Day and the impact that had on her and her choice to vote for the bill. All the Democrats voted to move the bill out of the committee and the Republicans voted “nay without recommendation” sharing they want to see the bill paired down to match the standard more closely for firefighters and police officers.

The Senate Labor committee moved the senate version of the bill, SB 5454, out of the committee on Monday. SB 5454 has a hearing in the Ways & Means committee on Saturday, February 18 at 9:00 am. You may sign in "pro" at this link here until 8:00 am on Saturday, Feb. 18. Please remember to leave 'organization' blank and then click the green "submit registration" button.

3. ARNP Reimbursement Parity

The ARNP reimbursement parity bill, SB 5373, was voted out of the Senate Health Care committee on Tuesday this week. The bill received bipartisan support with 7 Senators voting in support of the bill and only 2 voting “nay without recommendation.” The bill is still waiting to be scheduled for a hearing in the Ways & Means committee as the next step in the legislative process.

4. Nurse Licensure Compact

The Senate version of the Nurse Licensure compact, SB 5499, was voted out of the Senate Health & Long Term Care committee on Thursday. The bill received bipartisan support with 7 Senators voting to support the bill and 3 voting in opposition. Senator Cleveland proposed a striking amendment which was adopted. The amendment changed the reporting requirement from annual to monthly for health care facilities to share whose practicing at their facilities on a compact license with the nursing commission.

The house version of the compact, HB 1417, was voted out of the Postsecondary Education & Workforce committee on Friday.