WSNA statement on Nurse Licensure Compact

WSNA recognizes the need to provide nursing care across state lines; however, we have a number of concerns about the Nurse Licensure Compact as currently written.

No other state on the West Coast has joined the Compact, and many East Coast states that have strong health care systems also have not joined. We believe there is more work to be done to understand how the Compact is operating in other states – we have heard stories from other nurses’ associations about implementation issues. We want to fully understand these issues, and to look at how some states are working to mitigate them through additional state legislation.

Because our state already has expedited licensure for nurses coming in from out of state, including special expedited licensure for military spouses and partners, we remain unclear about the problem our state is trying to solve with this legislation. Our primary goals remain protection of the nursing profession and safety for patient and the public.