Bill Text: NJ S3086 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Establishes New Jersey Task Force to Address the Nurse Faculty Shortage.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-11-10 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee [S3086 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-S3086-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator LORETTA WEINBERG
District 37 (Bergen)
Senator JIM WHELAN
District 2 (Atlantic)
Co-Sponsored by:
Senator Vitale
SYNOPSIS
Establishes New Jersey Task Force to Address the Nurse Faculty Shortage.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act establishing the New Jersey Task Force to Address the Nurse Faculty Shortage.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. The Legislature finds and declares that:
a. The growing nurse faculty shortage regionally and nationally is depriving many qualified applicants to baccalaureate nursing programs of the opportunity to attain a nursing degree at a time of predicted long-term professional nurse workforce shortages through at least the year 2020;
b. This critical shortage has created the need for a thorough and immediate consideration of various options for better integrating clinical and scholarly expertise among faculty in schools of nursing; and
c. The State should facilitate this effort by sponsoring a task force to study these issues and develop appropriate recommendations.
2. There is established the New Jersey Task Force to Address the Nurse Faculty Shortage in the Division of Consumer Affairs of the Department of Law and Public Safety.
a. The task force shall include nine members as follows:
(1) the Executive Director of the New Jersey Board of Nursing, the Secretary of Higher Education, and the dean of a school of nursing in this State that offers a pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing education program, or their designees, as ex officio members; and
(2) six public members who are residents of this State, to be appointed by the Governor, including: one person upon the recommendation of the American Association of University Professors; one person upon the recommendation of the American Federation of Teachers New Jersey; one person upon the recommendation of the Organization of Nurse Executives of New Jersey; one person upon the recommendation of the New Jersey Nursing Initiative; one person upon the recommendation of the New Jersey Collaborating Center for Nursing; and one person upon the recommendation of the New Jersey State Nurses Association.
b. The public members of the task force shall serve without compensation but may be reimbursed for any expenses incurred by them in the performance of their duties.
c. The task force shall organize as soon as practicable after the appointment of its members and shall select a chairperson and vice-chairperson from among its members and a secretary who need not be a member of the task force.
d. The task force shall be entitled to call to its assistance and avail itself of the services of the employees of any State, county, or municipal department, board, bureau, commission, or agency as it may require and as may be available to it for its purposes.
e. The Division of Consumer Affairs shall provide such staff support as the task force requires to perform its duties.
3. The purpose of the task force shall be to conduct a thorough and comprehensive assessment of relevant issues in the consideration of new types of nurse faculty positions in order to enhance nurse faculty clinical experience and student learning and to offer teaching options for nurses with advanced degrees who work in clinical and other environments. In developing its recommendations, the task force shall have, as its overriding concern, to promote a highly qualified, diverse nurse faculty workforce that encompasses the roles and types of positions that will better connect academia and clinical practice through improved integration of the theory and science of nursing with its clinical practice.
4. The task force, no later than 12 months after the date of its organization, shall report to the Governor, and to the Legislature pursuant to section 2 of P.L.1991, c.164 (C.52:14-19.1), on the results of its activities, and shall include in that report such recommendations for administrative, legislative, and other action as it desires to present pursuant to section 3 of this act.
5. This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire upon the issuance of the report by the task force pursuant to section 4 of this act.
STATEMENT
This bill establishes the New Jersey Task Force to Address the Nurse Faculty Shortage.
The bill provides specifically as follows:
� The task force is established in the Division of Consumer Affairs of the Department of Law and Public Safety, which will provide such staff support as the task force requires to perform its duties.
� The task force is to include nine members as follows:
-- the Executive Director of the New Jersey Board of Nursing, the Secretary of Higher Education, and the dean of a school of nursing in this State that offers a pre-licensure baccalaureate nursing education program, or their designees, as ex officio members; and
-- six public members who are residents of this State, to be appointed by the Governor, including one person each upon the recommendation of the American Association of University Professors, the American Federation of Teachers New Jersey, the Organization of Nurse Executives of New Jersey, the New Jersey Nursing Initiative, the New Jersey Collaborating Center for Nursing, and the New Jersey State Nurses Association, respectively.
� The public members of the task force are to serve without compensation but may be reimbursed for any expenses incurred by them in the performance of their duties.
� The task force is to select a chairperson and vice-chairperson from among its members and a secretary who need not be a member of the task force.
� The purpose of the task force is to conduct a thorough and comprehensive assessment of relevant issues in the consideration of new types of nurse faculty positions in order to enhance nurse faculty clinical experience and student learning and to offer teaching options for nurses with advanced degrees who work in clinical and other environments. In developing its recommendations, the task force is to have, as its overriding concern, to promote a highly qualified, diverse nurse faculty workforce that encompasses the roles and types of positions that will better connect academia and clinical practice through improved integration of the theory and science of nursing with its clinical practice.
� The task force, no later than 12 months after the date of its organization, is to report to the Governor and the Legislature on the results of its activities, and to include in that report such recommendations for administrative, legislative, and other action as it desires to present pursuant to its charge under this bill.
� The bill takes effect immediately and expires upon the issuance of the task force report.
