Committee extends State Board of Nursing termination date, expands nurse repayment and preceptorship rules

House Bill 19 passed the Health and Government Operations Committee after members adopted amendments that extend the termination date for the State Board of Nursing and alter several licensure and incentive provisions.

The bill extends the boardtermination date by five years to July 1, 2030; gives the Secretary of Health continued authority over certain board infrastructure operations; extends termination dates for specified preceptorship income tax credit programs; expands eligibility under the Maryland Loan Assistance Repayment Program (MLARP) to include nurses and nursing support staff; and alters education requirements for licensure by endorsement. The amendments in packet C1 also lower the required rotation hours for nurse preceptorship income tax credit programs from 100 to 90 hours, authorize use of the board of nursing special fund for infrastructure operations, and delay by one year the effective date of a previously passed 2024 session provision related to certification/licensing for certified nursing assistants.

Committee members emphasized operational fixes at the Board of Nursing. The committee chair (unnamed in the transcript) said, "Before, if you recall, the board of nursing was a mess, respectfully. We fixed it with the Department of Health, and they actually trust the Department of Health so much that they wanna stay with them for a little while longer." Delegate Rosenberg moved the amendments and members voted to adopt them; the measure was then moved and passed as amended.

Fiscal considerations were noted. Committee discussion recorded that the bill carries a "high" fiscal note and that the fiscal impact relies on the board of nursingspecial fund; the chair said the bill had "gotten approval from appropriations." The transcript did not provide an itemized appropriation amount in committee.

What the committee decided: amendments were adopted in subcommittee (packet C1) and the committee voted to pass the bill as amended.

What remains unchanged: the committee record does not indicate a change to the underlying funding source beyond the statement that the fiscal note is tied to the boardspecial fund and that appropriations approved the measure. No roll-call vote counts were recorded in the transcript.

The committee moved on to subsequent items after passing the measure.