Legislative Update (Legislation‪)‬

After weeks of meetings, reviewing, debating and compromising, members of the 107th Tennessee General Assembly completed their business for the first session and adjourned on Saturday, May 21, 2011. This year, more than 2100 bills were introduced for legislative consideration. There were many changes in the manner of doing business this session, especially on the House side. Instead of multiple sub-committees for each standing committee, only one subcommittee was allowed. The new system proved to be efficient and timely as bills moved through the legislature, thereby resulting in an earlier adjournment. It's important to keep in mind, not all bills were considered this year, those that were not defeated or were not withdrawn, remain alive and may be acted on next year. The General Assembly is scheduled to return on Tuesday, January 12, 2012. The Tennessee Nurses Association and the TNA Government Affairs & Health Policy Committee gave considerable and careful review to bills having potential impact, whether positive or negative to the nursing profession. This year was very contentious, causing TNA to work diligently and exhaustively on legislation purposely introduced, which if enacted, would impede or limit the work of advanced practice registered nurses, as well as any legislation seeking to amend the nurse practice act (bills are listed and summaries provided below). Throughout the legislative session, every attempt was made to keep you informed of legislative actions, either through legislative alerts, or the weekly Legislative Update of bills posted at www.tnaonline.org under Government Affairs. A special thanks to those who took time out of their busy schedules to visit or make contact with legislators when it was necessary that legislators hear from the membership and a special thanks to nurses who when called, were ready to present testimony.