“We need to allow people to do what they're trained to do and not let state bureaucracy get in the way.”  — Sen. Ron Muzzall, R-Whidbey Island 

Ahhhhh. Music to my ears. 

Legislation that passed in the spring allowed Washington state to join the multistate Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC). Membership has its privileges: The move is already helping more qualified nurses work in Washington state, expanding access to nursing care for Washington patients. Joining the NLC takes away unnecessary state licensure delays and allows nurses to put their skills to use across state lines. 

The 2024 Legislature will have a chance to join another compact that can build on expanding worker rights and Washingtonians’ access to caregivers with Senate Bill 5815, which concerns the Physician Assistant Licensure Compact. It was prefiled Dec. 7 by Sen. Ron Muzzall, R-Oak Harbor. 

Utilizing compacts is important to the senator. He represents a district in which military spouses often experience delay and hardship to their family budgets when they can’t easily get to work after the military family has been relocated. He says the military families he talks to are appalled when they see how difficult it is to get licensed in our state when already licensed in another.

For that reason and others, including a desire to keep patients’ access to caregiving services high in Washington state, he has proposed SB 5815. He says he sees no early opposition to the idea. (The bill will see some useful amendments addressing points from the Washington Medical Commission, Muzzall notes.)

Similar to the Nurse Licensure Compact, joining this compact will enable already licensed and qualified physician assistants (PAs) to practice in all states that join the compact, rather than securing individual licenses in every state in which they want to practice.

In health care, "We have a staffing shortage across the board,” Muzzall explained. “Anything we can do to remedy that is a good direction. This is one of the answers to the problem.”

In 2019, funded with support from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Federation of State Medical Boards, the American Academy of Physician Associates, the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants and the Council of State Governments created an initiative to develop an interstate compact for physician assistants. This working group produced and approved the final version of the compact last year, and model legislation was made available to states in 2023. 

Washington state is one of more than a handful of states with legislation filed to consider being a part of the compact. That’s great because the compact needs seven states on board to become operational. (According to a map on the PA Licensure Compact website, it appears three states have enacted the legislation necessary to be members so far.) 

The Council of State Governments says this compact for PAs was motivated by “the success of other compacts for health care professions, such as the Nurse Licensure Compact and the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact for physicians.” Washington state is a member of both those, which have been enacted in a majority of states.  

In the first four months of belonging to the NLC, nearly 1,300 nurses were added to the state’s nursing workforce. Lawmakers should take more opportunities to lessen state licensing restrictions that are harmful to workers and patients.