Senate passes nurse discipline bill

The Senate unanimously approved a bill requiring nurses to report their colleagues to the Georgia Nursing Board if they suspect they have violated any of the board’s grounds for discipline.

Senate Bill 13 sponsor Sen. Buddy Carter, R-Pooler, said the bill will keep bad nurses from being quietly fired from medical facilities only to get a job elsewhere in the state.

Aside from a senate resolution urging Congress to balance the federal budget, the bill was the first to pass the Senate Thursday, the 30th day and the final day for a bill to pass at least one chamber and pass into law this year.