S-1095.1
SUBSTITUTE SENATE BILL 5335
State of Washington
69th Legislature
2025 Regular Session
By Senate Health & Long-Term Care (originally sponsored by Senators Slatter, Harris, Bateman, Chapman, Hasegawa, Holy, Krishnadasan, Nobles, Salomon, Trudeau, and Valdez)
READ FIRST TIME 02/05/25.
AN ACT Relating to establishing the rural nursing education program; adding new sections to chapter 43.70 RCW; creating a new section; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. The legislature finds that sustainable change is needed for rural health care nursing education. Nursing is the largest health care profession in the United States, yet rural hospitals, affiliated clinics, and underserved rural communities are experiencing a shortage of skilled registered nurses, including nurse practitioners who begin their careers as registered nurses, making it even more difficult to meet the health care needs of rural and underserved populations.
The legislature finds the major barriers that rural nursing students face are lack of access to affordable child care, lack of transportation and safe and extended commute times, and lack of access to internet services and computers. The added burden of the COVID-19 pandemic, subsequent reports of staff burnout, nurses leaving the profession, and higher salaries in urban areas has made it difficult for rural health care facilities, such as the state's 39 critical access hospitals, to compete with larger hospital systems in attracting and retaining a qualified workforce. Nurses living and working in rural communities are in short supply and high demand. Rural hospitals rely heavily on a substitute workforce such as traveling nurses, which is costly, unsustainable, and has significant recruitment and retention challenges.