Lobby Day Attendees Continue Outreach as Key Deadline Approaches for SB 323
With a deadline looming for Senate Bill 323 to advance to the next step of the legislative process, more than 150 nurse practitioners and other health care advocates from across the state gathered in Sacramento on May 24 for CANP Lobby Day 16.
“No one is better equipped to tell the story of the vital role that NPs play than NPs themselves. And nothing will help to make our case better than having a dialogue with elected officials,” CANP President Donna Emanuele told attendees, “but remember that this isn’t just about coming to Sacramento once a year, because every day is Lobby Day!”
Emanuele cited the recent endorsement of SB 323 by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) of California as a prime example of the sort of relationship building that is necessary to push SB 323 through the process and to the Governor’s desk. “I can’t overstate what a huge achievement this is,” she said of SEIU’s endorsement. “Their support is just the latest evidence that CANP, through the hard work of all of us, has become one of the truly influential voices in the field of health care policy.”
Before setting off for the State Capitol for scheduled meetings with legislators and their staff, attendees were briefed on effective lobbying tactics, as well as on the details of another measure prominent on CANP’s radar this legislative session. Assembly Bill 2507, supported by CANP and dozens of other health care organizations, would expand the definition of “telehealth” to include a wide array of digital communications platforms, improving patient access, choice, and convenience.
After failing passage in the Assembly Committee on Business and Professions in June of 2015, SB 323 was declared a two-year bill, and is thus eligible to be reconsidered by the same committee this session. The committee has until July 1 to act on the bill, which would enable California to join 21 other states and the District of Columbia as jurisdictions that permit NPs to practice to the full extent of their education, experience and expertise. The bill was passed by the full Senate by a vote of 25-5 on May 7, 2015.
The Lobby Day program also included the announcement of Micah Weinberg, President of the Bay Area Council Economic Institute and a nationally-renowned expert on health policy, as the recipient of CANP’s 2015 Nurse Practitioner Advocate of the Year award.
"With major policy reforms such as MACRA coming online, health care providers are increasingly being held financially accountable for quality and value. Nurse practitioners – as so many studies have shown – are the key to high quality, high value care,” said Weinberg in accepting the award. “Things like full practice authority will be a natural result of the changing economics of health in the United States."