For Immediate Release
April 22, 2010

Following the defeat of a misguided bill to deal with problems at the healing arts boards, including the Board of Registered Nursing (BRN), the California Nurses Association today called for Governor Schwarzenegger to take immediate common-sense steps to address the problems.

“Under Arnold Schwarzenegger, we’ve seen the BRN de-funded, de-emphasized, and de-fanged,” said Malinda Markowitz, RN, Co-president of CNA.  “The Governor can solve this, first by ending the furloughs for the Department of Consumer Affairs, which are harming the ability of the state to complete investigations necessary to protect the public while producing no savings to the state.  In the same vein, the Governor must give the BRN the 63 investigators it has requested, and restore the recent 20-percent budget cut to the BRN, which has led to unsafe and unacceptable delays in investigations.  Finally, to ensure a strong agency going forward, the state’s nurses call on the Governor to apply all revenue increases generated from higher nursing license fees exclusively to the hiring of additional expert staff to clear the complaint backlog.  These measures will turn the Board into the kind of efficient oversight agency that patients and nurses alike deserve.”