Legislative initiatives prove successful - MNA Council of Health Affairs
April 15, 2007

Mississippi's nursing faculty will receive a $6,000 pay raise as of July 1. The increase is the second installment of a planned two-year pay raise to retain and recruit teaching staff at schools of nursing across the state. Over 500 nursing faculty will receive the pay increase.

Other significant legislation affecting nurses includes a comprehensive school nurse program to be housed in the Department of Education, licensure fee increase by the Mississippi Board of Nursing, and an innovative program offering dual enrollment for training licensed practical nurses (LPNs) in high schools.

Salary Increase

The nurse faculty pay raise language is found in three bills passed March 30 by the Mississippi legislature: SB 3129 - Appropriations for the Institutions of Higher Learning; SB 3128 - Appropriations for the University Medical Center and SB 3130 - Appropriations for Community and Junior Colleges.

School Nurses

School nurses won a major victory with HB 1132 which moves them under the direction of the Department of Education. In a plan developed by the school nurses, they will work through the DOE's Office of Healthy Schools. Funding in the amount of $2,550,000 will cover all the nurses who once worked through the Partnership for a Healthy Mississippi. That money will move from the Health Department into the Department of Education.

In another school nurse issue, the cap on the number of nurses eligible for a salary increase upon completion of the national certification program was increased to 26.

Dual Enrollment for High School Students

The dual enrollment LPN program will be designed by the community colleges to be piloted in up to four locations in Mississippi and will involve curriculum development, planning for the pilots and coordination of outcomes by the Office of Nursing Workforce.

This program is a result of efforts by the Mississippi Nurses Association, Office of Nursing Workforce and Libby Mahaffey, dean of Allied Science at Hinds Community College, to respond to a need for more staff in long term care in this state. The nursing home industry and the Mississippi Hospital Association are working closely with this effort and have indicated their desire to participate. The legislature funded this start up program at $500,000 with $50,000 going to the ONW.

Increase in Licensure Fees

Licensure fees for Mississippi nurses will see an increase as a result of SB 2671. This bill authorizes the Board of Nursing to increase fees up to $100 over a two-year time frame. Before this bill, the Board of Nursing charged $50 per year for licensure. This increase is the first in 30 years and the legislature agreed. The bill goes into affect July 1.

Reorganization of the Department of Health

A significant measure before the Mississippi legislature was the reorganization of the Department of Health. MNA was disappointed in the final language restructuring the board.

The Mississippi Nurses Association submitted a list of nurses as candidates to Gov. Hailey Barbour, Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck and Attorney General Jim Hood.

The governor will sign the bill at which time current board members will cease and new board members will be named.

Finally, we were successful in having the medication technician bill killed by inserting the new LPN program as a solution to the staffing problems in long-term care.