North Texas Nurse Practitioners

NP Bills heard April 25! What YOU Can Do to HELP

Posted almost 7 years ago by Peggy Ostrander

Historic Day, Texas Holds Hearing on HB 1415

Tuesday, April 25, was a historic day for Texas Nurse Practitioners, the APRN Alliance, and advanced practice nurses everywhere. The Texas Public Health Committee held a hearing on HB 1415, our full practice legislation that would end the unnecessary burden of: 1) physician delegation requirements; 2) expensive “pay-to-play” contracts; 3) and dual regulation of both the Texas Medical Board and the Texas Board of Nursing. A star line-up of testifiers for the Alliance and the larger Coalition -- from physician supporters such as Dr. Waldman to AARP and retired Capitol Nurse Practitioner Tim Flynn -- made a compelling case for why we need this legislation as one of many solutions to Texas’ growing health care access crisis.

Read the APRN Alliance press release here and the Coalition for Health Care Access’s statement on the Put Patients First website. Missed the hearing? You can check out the video archive here (starting at minute 52:00).

What’s Next:

HB 1415 was left pending in committee, which is procedural for bills after they are considered in hearing. There is no definitive timeline for when the Texas Public Health Committee will vote on HB 1415 should it decide to advance this bill, but you can track the progress of the legislation here.

In the meantime, the Committee needs to hear from you. Please take a few minutes to send a personal letter to the Texas Public Health Committee Members, saying thank you and encouraging them to vote yes for HB 1415 on Tuesday. You can find a template letter here.

Committee Members:

And please send a thank you note to our bill author, Rep. Klick!

Rep. Klick: Stephanie.Klick@house.texas.gov