The president of the Wisconsin Board of Nursing resigned to protest Gov. Tony Evers’ veto of legislation to allow registered nurses to be licensed as advanced practice nurses.
In his resignation letter, Dr. Peter Kallio wrote the “veto appeared politically motivated to appease a small group of doctors who want to dictate nursing practice and that, unfortunately, makes this Board of Nursing ineffective.” He accused Evers of “a pure disregard for our profession.”
His term was set to expire in July. Kallio also resigned from the Controlled Substances Board.
SB 394 would’ve allowed advanced practice nurse practitioners to issue prescription orders, among other things.
In his veto message last month, Evers wrote lawmakers failed to address issues raised by parties in the medical profession. He added he objected to “altering current licensure standards for APRNs, allowing practices functionally equivalent to those of physicians or potentially omitting physicians from a patient’s care altogether notwithstanding significant differences in required education, training, and experience.”
The bill was opposed by the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Medical Society and the Wisconsin Academy of Family Physicians, among others. Those who supported the bill included several associations representing nurses, the Wisconsin Public Health Association and Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce.
Kallio was originally appointed to the board by the-Gov. Scott Walker in December 2018, one month after the Republican lost his reelection bid. The Senate didn’t confirm his appointment during the 2018 lame-duck session, and Evers initially withdrew the nomination in January 2019 after taking office only to appoint Kallio to the board a month later.
Kallio, of Muskego, has a history as a small-dollar donor to GOP legislative candidates over the past decade, according to a check of a state database.
Read his letter:
https://www.wispolitics.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/220509Letter.pdf
