WIACNS Legislative Update and Call to ACTION

WIACNS Legislative Update and Call to ACTION

Legislative activity effecting advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) is well underway at the Capitol in Madison.  Two new bills have been introduced that will positively impact the clinical practice of APRNs across the state.

• Senate Bill 31 (SB31) and Assembly Bill 12 (AB12) – will allow APRNs or PAs to function as a medical advisor or state agent. This role is currently only held by physicians.  As a medical advisor or state agent, APRNs will hold the ability to write orders and function as the medical officer for health departments, immunization programs, and other state/county programs. Currently this bill is being sponsored by Donna Rozar, who is a registered nurse and immediate past Representative for the 69th Assembly District.  If needed, a future call to action will be initiated for this bill, but at this time there is no documented opposition to SB31 and AB12. 

• Senate Bill 43 (SB43) – will allow APRNs to pronounce death. Currently WI state statute only allows physicians, physician assistants (PA), and Hospice RNs to pronounce death.  This legislation will remove the restrictions currently in place that prevent APRNs from the pronouncing death of their patients.  SB43 has been authored and sponsored by Senator Cabral-Guevara.

• Please take ACTION today and let your Senator know that you would like him/her to vote in favor of passing SB43. You can do this through a communication platform set up by the WNA.  It takes less than 2 minutes to send your Senator a message through this platform as it is already auto-populated for you.  Below is the link you can use to communicate with your Senator.

Please take action today, to ensure that Senators know your stance on the passage of SB43.  Your voice makes all the difference.

For questions regarding this update or active APRN legislation, please contact MaryAnn Moon, Chair of the WIACNS Legislative/Regulatory Committee.   Ph. 507-272-2699 or E: maryann.moon@aah.org or mary.annmoon@icloud.com