Gov. Ron DeSantis on Wednesday vetoed a bill that would have increased state requirements for nursing-education programs.
The House on May 2 unanimously passed the bill (HB 1427), while the Senate approved it in a 26-5 vote.
The bill would have made a series of changes related to the Florida Board of Nursing’s approval and oversight of nursing education programs. For example, the bill would have allowed the board to consider “adverse actions” taken against nursing education programs elsewhere in the U.S. when making decisions about program approvals.
In a veto letter, DeSantis wrote that the bill “institutes bureaucratic overreach by allowing the Board of Nursing to impose a host of additional regulations on nursing programs and their directors. These policies will deter programs from accepting students, encourage them to focus on test preparation rather than training students to work in health care and will hinder the state’s ability to recruit and maintain nursing programs and directors in the first place.”
But the Florida Nurses Association supported the bill, pointing to issues such as Florida trailing other states in passage rates on a national nurse licensure exam.
“Nurses must be able to think on their feet and make split-second life-saving decisions,” the association said in a summary of the bill. “Quality programs teach content and test students in that manner which prepares them for the exam and developing critical thinking skills in practice.”
