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Panel weighs extending temporary nursing permit from 60 to 90 days; bill laid over amid split testimony
Summary
House File 499 would extend Minnesota's temporary nursing permit from 60 to 90 days. Hospital leaders and some lawmakers said the change will ease staffing shortages; the Minnesota Nurses Association opposed it, citing patient safety and labor concerns. Committee laid the bill over as amended.
The House Health Finance and Policy Committee on March 17 heard House File 499, a proposal to extend Minnesota’s temporary nursing permit from 60 days to 90 days, and laid the bill over as amended for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill.
Representative Zaleszakar, the bill’s author, said the change is intended to reduce delays that keep newly graduated nurses, transfer nurses and travel nurses from the bedside while licensure paperwork is processed. “Extending temporary permits to 90 days buys us valuable time to transition nurses into permanent roles without unnecessary delay,” said Teresa Hanu, chief nursing officer at Aspirus Saint Luke's in Duluth, who testified in support.
Supporters — including hospital leaders and agents representing health plans — said the licensing backlog has left trained nurses idle and contributed to staffing stress in emergency departments and inpatient units. Representative Zaleszakar told the committee Minnesota graduates about 4,000 nurses each year and that other states allow longer temporary permits (examples cited in testimony included 90 days in Oregon and Hawaii and up to 120 days in Connecticut).
Opponents, led by the Minnesota Nurses Association, said the bill would lower Minnesota’s licensing standard and could be used to weaken union leverage during labor disputes. Ursula Pularuth, a labor and delivery nurse testifying for the Minnesota Nurses Association, said Minnesota "holds very high standards to our nursing practice" and that the bill could allow employers to hire out-of-state nurses not familiar with Minnesota-specific practice expectations. “This bill is an anti-union bill,” Pularuth said.
Committee members probed both patient-safety and workforce angles. Representative Hewitt and other members said they respect nurses’ professional standards but also expressed concern about patients waiting for care. The author and supporters said they had consulted with the Minnesota Board of Nursing and that the board had not raised objections to moving the permit window to 90 days.
The committee adopted the A1 amendment (which the chair said cleaned up language) and laid the bill over as amended for possible inclusion in the omnibus. The disposition in committee was by voice vote; no roll-call tally was recorded.
Votes at a glance: A1 amendment — adopted by voice vote; Motion to lay HF499 over as amended — approved by voice vote.
