Governor Brown Extends The Enforcement Power of Board of Registered Nursing

On October 1st, the Governor extended the power of the Board of Registered Nursing (BRN) to regulate the practice of Nursing to January 1, 2018 when it will be repealed if a new law is not enacted. The previous sunset law permitted the BRN to impose disciplinary action, and to grant or deny applicants a license, only up until January1, 2016.

Regardless of your politics, it seems futile to ask why our legislature might deem the regulation of nurses &/or professional and occupational licensing to be of no public concern and from time to time enact legislation to repeal any such authority. This comes at a time when there are so many social, financial, community and political needs of our state that instead should take precedence over passing sunset laws related to health care professionals.  If there is a question regarding the abuse of discretion by a state Board, there are other means  by which the legislature can deal with any such problem or issue. Had there been sufficient agreement with the above position, the legislature would have selected another date far in the future, such as 2030 or even later.

The following is a link to Senate Bill 466:  https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB466