LAS VEGAS (KLAS)— Nevada Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo signed several executive orders recently, aimed at helping fill vacant jobs.
He is requiring all state occupational and professional licensing boards to examine the regulations they’ve created. That will impact several industries, nursing included.
Nevada Board of Nursing Executive Director Cathy Dinauer says she’d like to see it become easier for out-of-state nurses to work in Nevada.
“One of the things that we are constantly talking about internally and with our board is that we don’t want to create unnecessary barriers for our licensure,” Dinauer said.
The board of nursing can issue a temporary license to someone in four to five days if they meet the requirements. But, it’s that wait that slows hospitals that need to quickly fill open nursing positions, especially during emergency situations.
“Needing nurses quickly is so important, and so if there’s something that we can do to help decrease those barriers, that’s what we’re going to do,” Dinauer said.
Lombardo is ordering all occupational and professional licensing boards to suspend the creation of new regulations.
Then, they need to review existing regulations and determine how they could align with what other states are doing.
“Nevada is the second worst regulated state when it comes to occupational licensing, in particular when we look at lower and lower-middle-income occupations,” Marco Lopez, outreach and coalitions director of the Nevada Policy Research Institute (NPRI), said.
NPRI supports these changes. Lopez says barbers and interior designers are one of the professions heavily regulated in the state, placing an undue burden on those looking to climb the economic ladder.
“We are one of four states that licensed interior designers. And I don’t know about you, but I don’t think you need a license, spend almost a thousand dollars in fees, and do a bunch of training, just to tell someone their couch doesn’t match their drapes,” Lopez said.
The governor said this effort is about making the state’s economy fair, open, competitive, and inclusive.