MNA Legislative Update, March 1, 2013 (Page 84)

Standards of Care Act

MNA’s Standards of Care Act is picking up steam at the Capitol. The bill passed its first committee in the House last week, and is scheduled to be heard next on Wednesday, March 6 at 10:00 am in the House Government Operations Committee in the Basement Hearing Room of the State Office Building. Please contact Geri Katz by email or at 651-414-2855 if you can show your support for the bill and the nurses who will testify.

Stories are pouring in from nurses and patients all over Minnesota, illustrating the human side of unsafe staffing. Patients are suffering needless pain and nurses are stretched so thin that they can’t provide the kind of care that inspired them to first become nurses.  Have you shared your story with your legislator yet? With the claims from hospitals that this is not an issue, it is especially important that they hear how your patients are affected by unsafe staffing. Please use the Grassroots Action Center to tell your state legislators your story.

February Budget Forecast

Yesterday Minnesota Management and Budget (MMB) released the February state budget forecast, which shows a projected deficit of $627 million for 2014-15, $463 million less than the November budget forecast. Much of that improvement is due to Governor Dayton’s health care reforms. While this new forecast is good news, there is still much more work to do to balance our budget and while making the system fairer for middle class families and investing in important priorities like education and health care.

More information about the budget forecast can be found on the MMB website. Click here for Governor Dayton’s comments about the budget forecast.

Governor Dayton’s Budget Proposal

Governor Dayton’s budget proposal received a hearing in front of a packed audience in the House Taxes Committee on Wednesday night. MNA nurses Bunny Engeldorf and Jennifer Michelson testified about MNA’s support for the Governor’s plan that both improves access to health care and saves money by making healthcare spending more efficient.

“I see people suffer and families grieve. And it is all so unnecessary,” Michelson said. “Governor Dayton’s budget provides additional revenue sources that will help us all treat each other better. With an expansion of Medicaid we can actually do a better job of preventing heart disease. We can keep people out of the hospital, where expenses are extraordinarily high and treatment is often too late.”

For more on their testimony, visit the MNA Blog.

RN Scope of Practice Update

After many years of work, MNA, the Minnesota Board of Nursing and organizations representing LPNs came to an agreement that clarifies the LPN scope of practice without infringing on that of RNs. The agreement addresses concerns Registered Nurses voiced to the Board of Nursing at listening sessions last summer. A bill will be introduced next week that, if passed, will put the agreed upon changes to the Nurse Practice Act into law.

Student Nurse Day on the Hill  

MNA welcomed over 300 nursing students from every corner of Minnesota to St. Paul on Thursday, for MNA’s annual Student Nurse Day on the Hill. Students heard from MNA nurses about the importance of advocating for patients at the Capitol, and listened to capitol veteran Representative Jim Abeler (R-35A, Anoka) describe the characteristics of effective citizen lobbyists. After the program, they visited the Capitol, beginning what we hope is a long career of nurse activism.