One of our first victories was to resurrect a dormant concurrent resolution directing the state Department of Human Resources and Development to create a job description for APRNs.  The state now has job titles for APRN I and APRN II with appropriate salaries.

We introduced a Bill to the 2009 Legislature to eliminate the Hawaii Department of Human Resources prior authorization requirement for Advance Practice Registered Nurses
 with prescriptive authority (APRN-Rx) prescribing psychotropic medications to Medicaid recipients.  Additionally, we introduced a Bill in the 2009 Session to create Global
Signatory Rights for APRNs.  Subsequently, Senator Baker introduced a wide-ranging bill which included Global Signatory Rights for APRNs plus Primary Care Provider
status with all the insurance companies, controlled substance prescription rights for APRNs, moving regulation of prescribing from the Board of Medicine to the Board of
Nursing, and updating the requirements for APRN recognition to include BOTH a Masters Degree in a Clinical Nursing Specialty AND national board certification.  We are
extremely grateful that on July 2, 2009, Governor Lingle signed HB1378 into law as Act 169.

In the 2010 Legislative Session, we were instrumental in the passage of Act 057, which made Hawai`i the first state in the nation to adopt the NCSBN's Model Nurse Practice Act and Administrative Rules.  Act 057 also immediately repealed the Collegial Agreement requirement for prescribing legend medications.

Our next big project for the 2011 session is to clean up the legal environment for ordering home health services.

Our Conference Committee organized a successful continuing education conference in the fall of 2007, and the Big Island committee established a collaboration with the UH Hilo College of Pharmacy to co-sponsor a 15 CE program, Update on CNS Pharmacology, in Kohala, HI.  

We have narrowed our focus since becoming a Business League.  
For the near future, we have decided to function as a clearing house for CE activities instead of providing them ourselves.  We will post activities available to our nursing
community on our website, so be sure to check the site frequently to keep abreast of your CE requirements.

One of our goals is to increase the public awareness of the roles and practices of RNs and APRNs in Hawaii.