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Senate committee advances grant-funded pilot to raise community college nursing instructor pay
Summary
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved a committee substitute for Senate Bill 25-14 to create a grant-funded pilot that increases pay for nursing instructors at community colleges to help retain faculty and produce more nurses; the measure includes a three-year repealer and is not funded from the state general fund.
Senator Parks told the Senate Appropriations Committee that Senate Bill 25-14 would create a pilot program to raise pay for nursing instructors at community colleges and that the effort would be funded strictly by grant money, not through the state budget. "This is creating a pilot program to retain the nursing instructors by increasing their salaries, and this will strictly be funded by grant money," Senator Parks said.
The bill, as explained to the committee, aims to make community-college instructor positions more competitive to stem an outflow of nurse-education talent and ultimately produce more nurses. The measure includes a three-year repealer, which Senator Parks confirmed when asked.
Committee members asked no substantive follow-up questions during the presentation. A motion described as "title sufficient, do pass committee substitute" was made and the chair called the question; the committee reported the bill out with the ayes prevailing.
The measure was repeatedly characterized in the hearing as being financed by grants rather than new expenditures from the state's general fund; no specific grant sources or award mechanisms were specified in the committee hearing record.
Next steps: the bill will be reported from committee to the legislative calendar for further consideration.
