Bill Text: HI HB811 | 2010 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Registered Nurses; Foreign Graduates; Licensure Requirements
Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 14-3)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2009-05-11 - Carried over to 2010 Regular Session. [HB811 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2010-HB811-Amended.html
Report Title:
Registered Nurses; Foreign Graduates; Licensure Requirements
Description:
Clarifies the requirements for foreign nursing school graduates applying for a license to practice as a registered nurse by examination to apply for licensure through a credentials evaluation service or a certification program. (SD1)
|
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.B. NO. |
811 |
|
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2009 |
H.D. 2 |
|
|
STATE OF HAWAII |
S.D. 1 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
||
A BILL FOR AN ACT
RELATING TO REGISTERED NURSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:
SECTION 1. The legislature finds that a foreign nursing school graduate may obtain a license to practice as a registered nurse in Hawaii either by examination or by endorsement. A foreign nursing school graduate may obtain a license by endorsement if the applicant already possesses an unencumbered license as a registered nurse in another country and, in the opinion of the board of nursing, meets the qualifications required of registered nurses in Hawaii at the time of graduation. If a foreign nursing school graduate does not already possess a registered nurse license in another country, the applicant may obtain a Hawaii license by examination by passing the National Council Licensure Examination and by complying with applicable requirements of state law and board of nursing rules that regulate nursing.
Section 16-89-8(c), Hawaii Administrative Rules, requires that a school transcript of a foreign nursing school graduate applying for a license by examination be evaluated by a professional educational credential evaluator recognized by the board and the applicant must arrange to have the evaluator send a report directly to the board. The Commission on Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools fulfills this credential evaluation function by either issuing a certification through its international certification program at a cost of $418, or by issuing a full education course-by-course report at a cost of $378.
The international certification program is composed of three parts:
(1) A credentials review;
(2) The international qualifying examination; and
(3) An English proficiency examination.
The purpose of this Act is to clarify the appropriate requirement for a foreign nursing school graduate to furnish either a written certification or a full education course-by-course report as a condition of taking the licensing examination to obtain a license to practice as a registered nurse in Hawaii. Further, it allows the board of nursing to recognize other professional evaluators should federal immigration law require it.
SECTION 2. Section 457-7, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (f) to read as follows:
"(f) Applicants applying for a license to practice as a registered nurse by examination shall submit to the board proof of eligibility. Applicants shall be eligible to apply for a license by examination if they have:
(1) Graduated from a registered nursing program at an educational institution in the United States or any territory or possession under the jurisdiction of the United States and are qualified as determined by the board through rules adopted pursuant to chapter 91;
(2) Graduated from a registered nursing program at an
educational institution in a foreign jurisdiction [and have had their transcripts
evaluated by professional evaluators designated by the board] and are
considered qualified as determined by the board through rules adopted pursuant
to chapter 91; after having completed one of the following reports by the
Commission of Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools or other professional
evaluator recognized by the board:
(A) Credentials Evaluation Service: Full Education Course-by-Course Report. Foreign-educated nurses who immigrated to the United States as sponsored family members of United States citizens and have acquired family-sponsored green cards are only required to have their educational credentials evaluated by completing the Credential Evaluation Service. No English competency or Commission of Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools examination shall be required; or
(B) Certification Program: For nurses who are not sponsored family members of United States citizens and have not acquired family-sponsored green cards, United States Immigration requires that all nurses coming to the United States to work as nurses complete the VisaScreen (Commission of Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools Certification Program), which includes an English competency exam, the Commission of Graduates of Foreign Nursing Schools exam, and an education credentials evaluation; or
(3) Graduated with a bachelor's degree and satisfactorily completed the pre-licensure portion of a master's entry program in nursing at an accredited school of nursing in the United States or any territory or possession under the jurisdiction of the United States that is recognized by the board or other state boards of nursing and are qualified as determined by the board."
SECTION 3. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.
SECTION 4. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2009.
