A bill to help address the nursing shortage passed the Senate Tuesday. Sponsored by Sen. Robby Mills (R-Henderson), Senate Bill 10 seeks to restructure the Kentucky Board of Nursing and provide more student access to nursing programs.
“We can all be happy to see the latest wave of COVID-19 dramatically declining, but the awareness it has brought to our nursing shortage cannot be forgotten,” Mills said. “Enacting SB 10 will bring some relief to the nursing profession and is intended to prevent a crisis like this from happening again.”
When nurses were laid off during the pandemic after elective procedures were halted, nurses turned to travel work.
“It just created a bigger and bigger problem,” said bill Co-Sponsor Senate President Robert Stivers (R-Manchester). “But this is not just related to hospitals. It’s related to long-term health care facilities and anybody else who relies on nursing.”
Currently, the KBN consists of members appointed by the governor. But, under SB10, there will be two appointed members from each congressional district that the Senate must approve.
“I’d like to thank the sponsors for bringing this legislation to address this critical need. I particularly appreciate the fact that of this committee sub, that you worked with various entities to improve the bill,” said Sen. Denise Harper Angel (D-Louisville) during the committee meeting.