Subcommittee approves HB 5023 budget for Oregon State Board of Nursing, including fee increases and new investigator positions

The Joint Ways and Means Human Services Subcommittee voted to move House Bill 5023, the Oregon State Board of Nursingbudget bill, to the full Ways and Means committee with a "do pass" recommendation after adopting the LFOrecommendation and a dash-1 amendment without objection.

The measure would set the boardrecommended 2025-27 other funds budget at $30,712,190 and 64 positions (63.9 FTE), increase several licensing fees, add investigator and administrative staff, and clarify a key performance measure for licensing timeliness.

LFO told the committee the recommended 2025-27 budget is $30,712,190 in other funds and 64 positions (63.9 FTE), a 15.7% increase from the 2023-25 legislatively approved budget and a 5.1% increase from the current service level. LFO said the boardprojects a 2025-27 ending balance of $12,027,195 in other funds, equivalent to about nine months of operating expenses. The board licenses 128,548 individuals, LFO noted, and generates most revenue from licensing fees.

The recommendation includes five policy packages. One is a revenue-only package expected to generate $8,079,815 by increasing fees for registered nurses and advanced practice registered nurses by $100 and for licensed practical nurses by $35, effective July 1, 2025; the presentation noted fees were last increased by $40 in February 2009. Other packages increase expenditure limitation for position reclassifications and new investigator positions ($787,135 in package 101), a $9 surcharge transfer to the Oregon Nursing Advancement Fund (package 102, $150,000), inflationary testing costs for nurse aide and medication aid exams (package 103, $150,000), and an LFO package increasing limitation by $395,889 to establish one permanent investigator 3 position and one permanent administrative specialist 1 position.

On staffing, the LFO presentation said DAS Chief Human Resources Office reviewed board staff and recommended reclassifying multiple positions (investigations manager, compliance specialist, administrative specialist) and establishing investigator positions to allow timelier investigations. LFO said the new permanent investigator position is intended to reduce the average caseload per investigator from about 100 to about 50 cases and that an administrative specialist 1 would assist with subpoena requests.

Committee members questioned the boardrepresentatives about a key performance measure for complaint resolution. Representative Nelson asked why a KPM that shows the percent of complaints referred to the board within 120 days had a historical result of about 27% against a 75% target. John Etherington, chief financial and operations manager at the Oregon State Board of Nursing, said the 120-day target is a legislatively set timeframe and that investigations often require subpoenas and time-consuming evidence collection. Etherington said the 120-day limit "is really just too far of a time forward in order to achieve that with having a proper investigation done and not just trying to hurry it along to bring it to the board." Kimberly Goddard, chief of staff at the State Board of Nursing, added, "a piece of this is like waiting on those subpoenas. Oftentimes it's 30, 60 days before we're getting information back. And so getting that to the board in the 120 days is, really rough, if not impossible." The LFO clarified KPM number 4 to specify the licensing target as "percent of licensing applications processed within 5 days," stating the board was already using that internal target and the clarification does not change reporting.

Formal actions recorded in the work session include: LFO's recommended budget motion for HB 5023, moved by Representative Pham and approved with no objections; a motion to approve the LFO-recommended key performance measures, moved by Representative Pham and approved with no objections; adoption of the dash-1 amendment to HB 5023 (moved in the record by a member whose name was not specified in the transcript) and approved with no objections; and a motion to move HB 5023 as amended to the full Ways and Means committee with a due-pass recommendation (moved by the same member who moved the earlier motion on the amendment), also approved with no objections.

Committee members and LFO staff discussed timing of review and suggested members flag KPM or budget concerns before the work session so changes can be considered earlier in the process. Representative Sharf suggested providing presentation dates with materials to help members review prior agency presentations before voting.

The subcommittee adjourned after the vote; HB 5023 will be considered by the full Ways and Means committee next.