FL Lawmakers Pushing for Multi-State Practice

Florida legislators are proposing a measure that could serve to aid the state in what’s being described as a nursing crisis, wherein there are more vacant nursing positions than there are skilled, qualified, and willing healthcare providers to fill them.

To help qualified professionals temper the nursing shortage, lawmakers are urging for a bill that would allow nurses’ licenses and credentials to cross state lines along with the nurses themselves.

The Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee has unanimously approved SB 1316, according to Health News Florida. Sen. Denise Grimsley (R-Sebring), who filed the bill, describes the proposal as a “nurse licensure compact” that the state would enter into along with more than 20 others.

On the House of Representatives side, HB 1061 is moving toward the full House, after being proposed by Rep. Cary Pigman (R-Avon Park) and passed affirmatively in committees.