Legislative Alert: March, 2001
by Louise Browning, CAE
Executive Director and Lobbyist
HB1254/SB1236 Nondiscrimination in Managed Care
HB1254 by Ronnie Cole, McKee, Phelan, & Ralph Cole on nondiscrimination in managed care is scheduled for a vote on the House floor Monday evening, March 25, at 5:00. It has been placed on the Consent Agenda, which is great, as this means it will be passed with one motion along with several other bills that are considered to be noncontroversial. There were no amendments to the bill offered in any of the committees, and no one voted against it, so we requested that the Chair of the Calendar and Rules Committee, Pete Phillips, place it on the Consent Agenda. Those in Rep. Phillips’ district need to thank him for complying with our request, and thank Rep. West for making the motion to put it on the Consent Calendar. All of those living in the sponsor and co-sponsors’ districts, please remember to thank them, also.
SB1236 by Cooper & Graves is scheduled to be heard Tuesday, March 27, at 1:30 in the Senate Commerce Committee. Please contact the other members of that committee now. They are Senators Clabough, Dixon, Carter, Crutchfield, Elsea, Rochelle and Williams, and thank the sponsors Sen. Cooper and Sen. Graves.
HB1794 by Black/SB1823 by Cooper relative to Advanced Practice Registered Nurses
We have not yet tried to move the House or Senate bill that elevates the practice of APRNs, as we hope to get the nondiscrimination bill passed first and then concentrate our efforts on this bill. However, it is not too early for you to talk to your Legislators about this bill. Individual physicians, the TMA lobbyists and the lobbyist for anesthesiologists have already begun to lobby heavily against the bill. Review the intent of this bill on the February 16 Legislative Alert. You may also want to go to the Legislative website at www.legislature.state.tn.us and print the bill, then pull a copy of the Nurse Practice Act off the TNA website, so you can clearly see what sections of the nursing law the bill amends and thoroughly understand what the bill will accomplish for APRNs. We have added an Acrobat Reader version of the Nurse Practice Act on our website, so you may now search the Practice Act easily for only the sections or topics you want to read. If you have never searched in Acrobat Reader, click on the binoculars in the tool bar and you will easily see how to do it.
HB1795 by Odom/SB1762 by Kurita on Workforce Planning & Development
Our bill to authorize the Board of Nursing to fund a nonprofit workforce planning and development agency will be heard in the Health Access Subcommittee of the House Health and Human Resources Committee on Wednesday, April 11 at 9:00 am. It has actually been scheduled for April 4, but due to a conflict with our program agenda at the Health Policy Summit we have asked the sponsor to roll it for one week. The Senate bill has not yet been scheduled, as the Senate General Welfare Committee has been holding budget hearings for several weeks. They will have a regular calendar beginning April 4.
RN Pronouncement of Death
HB257 by Garrett authorizing RNs to pronounce death in nursing homes is scheduled to be heard in the House Health and Human Resources Committee on Tuesday, March 27, at 12:00 noon. SB521 by Henry , the companion bill, is scheduled for the Senate General Welfare Committee on Wednesday, April 4, at 9:30 am in Room 12-14. It is the last of 23 bills on the calendar, so there is always a possibility they may not get to it. SB778 by Henry/HB503 by Garrett that included pronouncing death in nursing homes and hospitals are not moving.
Dialysis Clinics
HB1385 by Armstrong/SB1662 by Ford would require renal dialysis clinics to be licensed and regulated by the state as other health care facilities. Currently these clinics are regulated by the federal government. This is the Department of Health’s bill.
Tobacco Funds
There are several bills on the tobacco monies, which I will report on in more detail soon. Meanwhile, you may wish to go to the search engine on the Legislative website, put tobacco in the topic and be prepared to read. SB214 by Senator Dixon creates a Tobacco Settlement Health Endowment Fund and a Board to administer the funds. Board members will be the state treasurer, the commissioner of finance and administration, the commissioner of health, the commissioner of education, together with a total of six persons who shall be appointed by the speaker of the Senate and six persons appointed by the speaker of the House.
