Bill Text: NY A03961 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires 45 hours of mandatory continuing education in a three year period for registered professional nurses; permits exemptions for illness, military duty and nurses who are not engaged in the practice.
Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 20-2)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to higher education [A03961 Detail]
Download: New_York-2021-A03961-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 3961 2021-2022 Regular Sessions IN ASSEMBLY January 29, 2021 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN, GOTTFRIED, CAHILL, DINOWITZ, GUNTHER, ABINANTI, GALEF, MAGNARELLI, WEPRIN, RODRIGUEZ, STECK, L. ROSENTHAL, FAHY, LAVINE, PICHARDO, CARROLL, BYRNE, WOERNER -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. FRIEND, LUPARDO, PERRY, THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Higher Education AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to mandatory continuing education for nurses The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new section 6912 2 to read as follows: 3 § 6912. Mandatory continuing education for registered professional 4 nurses. 1. (a) Each licensed registered professional nurse required 5 under this article to register triennially with the department to prac- 6 tice in the state shall comply with provisions of the mandatory continu- 7 ing education requirements prescribed in subdivision two of this section 8 except as set forth in paragraphs (b) and (c) of this subdivision. Nurs- 9 es who do not satisfy the mandatory continuing education requirements 10 shall not practice until they have met such requirements, and have been 11 issued a registration certificate, except that a nurse may practice 12 without having met such requirements if he or she is issued a condi- 13 tional registration certificate pursuant to subdivision three of this 14 section. 15 (b) Registered professional nurses shall be exempt from the mandatory 16 continuing education requirement for the triennial registration period 17 during which they are first licensed. In accord with the intent of this 18 section, adjustment to the mandatory continuing education requirement 19 may be granted by the department for reasons of health certified by an 20 appropriate health care professional, for extended active duty with the 21 armed forces of the United States, or for other good cause acceptable to 22 the department which may prevent compliance. 23 (c) A licensed registered professional nurse not engaged in practice 24 as determined by the department, shall be exempt from the mandatory 25 continuing education requirement upon the filing of a statement with the EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD02002-01-1A. 3961 2 1 department declaring such status. Any licensee who returns to the prac- 2 tice of registered professional nursing during the triennial registra- 3 tion period shall notify the department prior to reentering the profes- 4 sion and shall meet such mandatory education requirements as shall be 5 prescribed by regulations of the commissioner. 6 2. During each triennial registration period an applicant for regis- 7 tration shall complete a minimum of forty-five hours of acceptable 8 formal continuing education, as specified in subdivision four of this 9 section. Any registered professional nurse whose first registration date 10 following the effective date of this section occurs less than three 11 years from such effective date, shall complete continuing education 12 hours on a prorated basis at the rate of one and one quarter hour per 13 month for the period beginning January first, two thousand twenty-two up 14 to the first registration date thereafter. A licensee who has not satis- 15 fied the mandatory continuing education requirements shall not be issued 16 a triennial registration certificate by the department and shall not 17 practice unless and until a conditional registration certificate is 18 issued as provided for in subdivision three of this section. 19 3. The department, in its discretion, may issue a conditional regis- 20 tration to a licensee who fails to meet the continuing education 21 requirements established in subdivision two of this section but who 22 agrees to make up any deficiencies and complete any additional education 23 which the department may require. The fee for such a conditional regis- 24 tration shall be the same as, and in addition to, the fee for the trien- 25 nial registration. The duration of such conditional registration shall 26 be determined by the department but shall not exceed one year. Any 27 licensee who is notified of the denial of registration for failure to 28 submit evidence, satisfactory to the department, of required continuing 29 education and who practices registered professional nursing without such 30 registration, may be subject to disciplinary proceedings pursuant to 31 section sixty-five hundred ten of this title. 32 4. As used in subdivision two of this section, "acceptable formal 33 continuing education" shall mean formal courses of learning that are 34 acceptable to the department, including courses in an accredited and 35 approved registered professional nursing degree or certificate program 36 and courses provided by any of the following organizations: 37 (a) a nationally accredited provider of nursing continuing education; 38 (b) an organization or agency that is approved by a nationally accred- 39 ited provider of nursing continuing education; 40 (c) a school of nursing approved by the department; 41 (d) a national nursing organization; or 42 (e) a provider of continuing education that is recognized by another 43 state's board of nursing. 44 5. Registered professional nurses shall maintain adequate documenta- 45 tion of completion of acceptable formal continuing education and shall 46 provide such documentation at the request of the department. 47 6. The mandatory continuing education fee shall be forty-five dollars, 48 shall be payable on or before the first day of each triennial registra- 49 tion period, and shall be paid in addition to the triennial registration 50 fee required by section sixty-nine hundred five of this article. 51 § 2. This act shall take effect January 1, 2022; provided that any 52 rules and regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this act 53 on its effective date are authorized to be promulgated, repealed and/or 54 amended by such effective date.
