Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
N.H. Bill Introduced To Address School Nurse Shortage By Easing Certification Requirements
Seeking to fight a shortage, legislators are considering a new bill that would dramatically reduce certification requirements for school nurses. House Bill 1217 would eliminate a broad range of required qualifications recently put into law, a course reversal from efforts to increase the standards. Republican backers and municipal officials argue that the requirements are prohibitive and unnecessary for the role. (DeWitt, 1/18)
The nurses are back with their gloves off — and not the disposable medical kind. Despite a legislative setback last year — dealt by one of the state’s top Democrats, of all people — the powerful California Nurses Association stormed the state Capitol Wednesday to resume their campaign for single payer health care. (Ibarra, 1/18)
A bill to ease the penalties for first-time possession of small amounts of marijuana cleared a Republican-dominated panel at the statehouse Thursday. GOP lawmakers stressed that marijuana would still be illegal, but possessing five grams or less would be a simple misdemeanor instead of a serious misdemeanor. (Russell, 1/18)
