Gov. Laura Kelly signed a bill that supporters say will reform how the state nursing board is run after getting complaints about the agency’s heavy-handed approach to enforcement.
Lawmakers passed legislation that overhauls the board, gives latitude to nurses who are late renewing their licenses and voids 20 years of enforcement actions related to licensing and renewals.
The bill passed 32-8 in the Senate and 87-38 in the House.
The nursing board has been under intense scrutiny since last summer, when the House government oversight committee started examining how the agency carries out enforcement.
There have been complaints that the agency has pressured nurses into signing consent orders acknowledging they were guilty of unprofessional conduct because of a clerical mistake that didn’t threaten patient health and safety.
Last year, a consultant evaluated the state nursing board’s disciplinary program and suggested areas where it could be improved.
Jay Douglas, former president of the National Council of State Boards of Nursing, cautioned the Kansas nursing board that its enforcement efforts were imbalanced.
“Your current regulatory methods really have moved to a point of favoring enforcement over a balanced, risk-based and proportionate approach,” Douglas told the board in December.
Douglas said the agency was spending more time on less weighty issues than cases where public safety is at risk.
“Most of your time seems to be spent on minimal-risk and low-harm matters,” she said.
“More of your time is spent on that than the high-risk, patient safety issues,” she said.
Lawmakers have been particularly concerned that nurses found guilty of “unprofessional conduct” for a clerical error were placed on federal and state databases showing that finding.
An auditor who reviewed the agency said the board’s enforcement efforts were imbalanced and that it favored enforcement “over a balanced, risk-based and proportionate approach.”
Republican state Rep. Sandy Pickert of Wichita led efforts to change how the board operates during the legislative session.
Pickert, a nurse, said in an interview that her goal was to “exonerate the nurses who have been disciplined harshly for minor infractions like checking the wrong box or maybe being a day late on their license application.”
Democratic state Sen. Pat Pettey of Kansas City said the bill was an overreaction.
During floor debate on the bill, Pettey said the legislation a “drastic reaction of the Kansas Legislature to address some licensing issues without consideration of the importance of the Kansas Board of Nursing to license over 71,000 nurses for the health safety of all Kansans.”
The bill, she said, “legislates such a hostile environment that no professional will want to serve since a lawsuit can be brought against one just for being on the board.”
“For the Board of Nursing, this is death by legislation.”
The outgoing executive administrator of the board, Carol Moreland, said there were “significant concerns” with the bill and that it would increase risk to the public.
But Republican lawmakers said they had heard enough complaints about the agency to move ahead with some kind of action to bring more oversight to the agency.
The bill voids any enforcement actions taken by the board since 2005 related to licensing applications, renewals, reinstatements or practicing when a license lapsed.
The bill establishes a 30-day grace period for a license to remain valid following the renewal date.
The bill also amends the definition of “unprofessional conduct” to exclude any behaviors unrelated to the licensee’s practice of nursing, such as the failure to timely renew a license or late payments for civil debt.
The bill also sets out that the terms of the existing 11 board members serving will expire July 1 and the governor will have to appoint an interim board.
The governor will be required to appoint a new board before the first day of the 2027 regular session. The appointments will be subject to Senate confirmation.
The bill prohibits the governor, attorney general or a member of the Legislature from serving on the board. Democratic state Rep. Melissa Oropeza of Kansas City is a member.
There are now six vacant positions on the board.
Darin Patterson, whose wife is a licensed nurse who took the agency to court over a disciplinary action, has been lobbying the Legislature to make changes in how the agency operates.
“There are a lot of happy tears today from nurses who will now be able to resume their careers,” Patterson said Tuesday.
“It’s been a long few months, with hundreds of hours logged at the Capitol communicating with legislators,” Patterson said.
“But it’s reassuring to know that government can be accessible and responsive, as long as you are willing to work hard, present viable solutions, and keep things fact-based,” he said.
