Bill to add Minnesota to Nurse Licensure Compact fails along party lines

Once again, lawmakers voted along party lines on a bill that aims to make it easier for nurses to practice medicine across state lines.  

Rep. Joe Schomacker (R)

HF1925, sponsored by Rep. Joe Schomacker (R-Luverne), would allow state-licensed nurses to practice in 43 other Nurse Licensure Compact member states, including Minnesota’s four bordering states. The bill also would allow nurses licensed in compact states to work in Minnesota.

“The idea here is to have better coordination, especially within telehealth and in-person care,” said Schomacker, adding that the bill was recommended by the Rural Health Transformation Program.

A motion for the House Health Finance and Policy Committee to approve the bill, as amended, and send it to the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee failed Wednesday on an 11-11 party-line, roll-call vote.

Two proposed amendments to the bill also failed on a voice vote: requiring nurses to complete additional training on nutrition and reinstating the Presidential Fitness Test for public and charter school students.

Joining the compact would not replace or override state regulations around nursing practices, according to the bill.

Some Minnesota nurses testified against the bill, saying it could pose labor issues, including inconsistencies in training between states coupled with inconsistent state regulations.

Similar bills have been contested “a number of times,” Schomacker said. Over the past few years of debate, the committee co-chair noted he has observed high school nursing students in his own district start their training in Minnesota, then go to Sioux Falls, S.D., to finish their licensure in a state that’s joined the compact.

April Grunhovd, chief nursing officer at Riverview Health, supports the bill. Because Minnesota is not a licensure compact state, Grunhovd said her hospital covers the cost for its nurses to maintain dual licensure between both Minnesota and North Dakota.  

“This creates an unnecessary financial and administrative burden,” she said.