SESSION WATCH
Died SENATE · SESSION 2026

No. SB 138

Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Autonomous Practice
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SPONSOR
Truenow
FILED BY
Keith L. Truenow — District 13, Republican [search donations]
EFFECTIVE
7/1/2026
DIED IN
Health Policy

Filed under Healthcare.

PROVIDED SUMMARY

Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Autonomous Practice; Authorizing certain advanced practice registered nurses to engage in autonomous practice to provide mental health services as defined by rule of the Board of Nursing, etc.

Full bill text →

Plain English Summary

AI-GENERATED
Lets psychiatric mental health nurses practice without physician supervision.

A nurse certified as a psychiatric mental health advanced practice nurse can now provide mental health services without a supervising or collaborating physician, the same autonomous-practice status already available to certain primary care nurses.

Autonomous practice was previously limited to primary care fields like family medicine and general pediatrics. This adds psychiatric mental health services as a separate category eligible for that same independence.

What counts as a 'mental health service' for this purpose is left to the Board of Nursing to define by rule, not spelled out in the statute itself.

KEY PROVISIONS
§ 1 Lets psychiatric mental health APRNs practice autonomously majors. 464.0123

AIA nurse certified as a psychiatric mental health advanced practice nurse may now provide mental health services without a supervising or collaborating physician, gaining the same autonomous-practice status already available to certain primary care nurses.

“he or she may engage in autonomous practice to provide mental health services, as defined by board rule” bill text, line 22 →
§ 2 Limits the grant to a specific nursing certification moderates. 464.0123

AIThis autonomous-practice authority applies only to a nurse who holds the specific psychiatric mental health advanced practice nurse certification, not to advanced practice registered nurses generally.

“If an advanced practice registered nurse is certified as a psychiatric mental health advanced practice nurse” bill text, line 20 →
TIMELINE
3/13/2026
Died in Health Policy
1/13/2026
Introduced
10/21/2025
Referred to Health Policy; Appropriations Committee on Health and...
10/8/2025
Filed
STATUTES IT CHANGES
s. 464.0123
+34 / −0