Support? Oppose? No Position?

In addition to sponsoring legislative proposals, CANP also monitors bills that impact the nurse practitioner profession. In many cases, CANP will take an official position on these bills. How does CANP decide which bills to support or oppose? The process outlined below has been developed as a means for determining on a case-by-case basis whether CANP supports, opposes or remains neutral.

Protocol for Disseminating Bills

• The legislative advocate screens all new bills. The legislative advocate creates a bill tracking list that is available on the CANP website which includes regular updates on where each bill is in the legislative process. The legislative advocate makes recommendations on bill positions and priorities.
• The legislative advocate’s recommendations are sent to the executive working group, which is made up of the CANP President, President-Elect, and the Health Policy and Practice Committee (HPPC) Co-Chairs. The HPPC Co-Chairs then share that information with the HPPC members and solicit input and feedback from the committee. The legislative advocate relies upon this working group for discussions on legislation.
• The HPPC Co-Chairs will share information about pending legislation with committee members.
• Each HPPC committee reviewer will send their opinion to the HPPC Co-Chairs, specifying support, oppose, watch, or neutral, one week prior to the monthly conference call or as requested by the Co-Chairs. This opinion is based on consideration of Criteria for Following Bills (see below).
• The HPPC Co-Chairs and/or legislative advocate will review the bills at the next conference call to include the importance of the bill to NP practice, controversial issues, and rationale for the recommended position. HPPC members are responsible for sharing information and background about how proposed legislation may impact their practice. A recommended position will be discussed and a position adopted.
• The HPPC Co-Chairs are responsible for prioritizing the legislation under review, recognizing that CANP cannot take an active position on every bill but instead must focus its efforts on the top priority bills.

Criteria for Following Bills

CANP follows – i.e., supports, opposes or watches – bills that:

• Affect nurse practitioner scope of practice, or that of other advanced practice nurses
• List who may be reimbursed for a medical procedure or services
• Define the practice of medicine or nursing
• Deal with prescribing of drugs
• Use the term “physician” instead of “provider”
• Impact patients

Support or Oppose

The legislative advocate will write a letter to the author of the bill and to appropriate legislative committee members delineating CANP’s position on the bill. We may oppose unless amended, and suggested amendments will be drafted by CANP’s advocacy team.

Watch

These are bills that could potentially impact NPs but which we do not support or oppose, including bills that could be potential vehicles that may be amended later. The legislative advocate is not expected to write a letter to the group involved with the bill.

Following Bills

The complete list of bills on which CANP has taken a position or is monitoring can be viewed via our online bill tracker.