HOUSE BILL 1483 |
HOUSE AUTHOR: Allen et al. |
EFFECTIVE: See below |
SENATE SPONSOR: Nelson |
House Bill 1483 amends the Nursing Practice Act to abolish the Board of Vocational Nurse Examiners and transfer all of its functions to the Board of Nurse Examiners. The bill continues the Board of Nurse Examiners until September 1, 2007, and increases the membership of the board from nine to 13 members to include certain nurse members and an additional member who represents the public. The bill exempts certain vocational nurse organizations from liability for the payment of an occupation tax or license fee in certain circumstances, requires the board to prescribe certain programs of study for vocational nurses, authorizes the board to waive certain license requirements related to completion of nursing education by a vocational nurse applicant, requires license holders to participate in a bioterrorism response component as a part of continuing education requirements, and includes provisions related to peer review requirements of certain employers. The bill takes effect September 1, 2003, except that the transfer of functions from the Board of Vocational Nurse Examiners to the Board of Nurse Examiners and all related conforming changes to the law take effect February 1, 2004.