ENROLLED
2016 Regular Session
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 244
BY REPRESENTATIVE DUSTIN MILLER
A RESOLUTION
To urge and request the Louisiana State Board of Nursing and the Louisiana State Board of
Practical Nurse Examiners, jointly, to study the feasibility and desirability of
merging the two boards, and to report findings of the study to the House Committee
on Health and Welfare.
WHEREAS, nurses play an exceptionally large and vital role in the healthcare
systems of Louisiana and the nation overall; and
WHEREAS, the provisions of R.S. 37:911 et seq. establish and provide for the
Louisiana State Board of Nursing for the purposes of promoting, preserving, and protecting
the public health, safety, and welfare by regulating nursing education and practice and
ensuring that any individual practicing nursing or using the title "registered nurse" or
"advanced practice registered nurse" is properly trained and licensed before engaging in such
practice; and
WHEREAS, the provisions of R.S. 37:961 et seq. establish and provide for the
Louisiana State Board of Practical Nurse Examiners for the purposes of licensing practical
nurses and regulating the practice of practical nursing, which is defined in pertinent part as
the performance for compensation of any acts, not requiring the education, training, and
preparation required in professional nursing, in the care, treatment, or observation of persons
who are ill, injured, or infirm and for the maintenance of the health of others and the
promotion of health care under the direction of a registered nurse or a licensed physician,
optometrist, or dentist; and
WHEREAS, while the Louisiana State Board of Nursing and the Louisiana State
Board of Practical Nurse Examiners each play an important role in protecting the public
health by regulating health professions on which our state depends, Louisiana is one of only
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three U.S. states that employ separate boards to license registered nurses and practical
nurses; and
WHEREAS, numerous administrative efficiencies and other advantages of having
a single board license both registered nurses and practical nurses can be found among the
forty-seven states that do so.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the House of Representatives of the
Legislature of Louisiana does hereby urge and request the Louisiana State Board of Nursing
and the Louisiana State Board of Practical Nurse Examiners, jointly, to study the feasibility
and desirability of merging the two boards.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Louisiana State Board of Nursing and the
Louisiana State Board of Practical Nurse Examiners shall develop a written report of
findings of the study requested by this Resolution, and shall submit the report to the House
Committee on Health and Welfare no later than sixty days prior to the convening of the 2017
Regular Session of the Legislature of Louisiana.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to the
executive director of the Louisiana State Board of Nursing and the executive director of the
Louisiana State Board of Practical Nurse Examiners.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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