A bill before the Idaho Legislature will try to take a big step forward this morning toward offering Lewis-Clark State College graduate degrees in Coeur d’Alene and Lewiston.

House Bill 395 would remove and alter language in the code that originally established Lewis-Clark State as a four-year college. The proposal would remove restrictions that limit Lewis-Clark to traditional four-year degrees and add language that updates the Idaho Code to recognize more contemporary trends, such as professional and technical degrees. That language would also allow nursing students to pursue master’s degrees.

“Part of the issue we have here in [North Idaho] is the limited amount of programs in health sciences,” Coeur d’Alene Rep. Paul Amador, HB 395’s author, told The Press. “Conversely, we have a population explosion here, and generally speaking, that population is growing older. Statistically speaking, that growing population is at a higher need for more qualified personnel, and this will help.”

Few colleges or universities in Idaho offer nursing degrees beyond a bachelor’s, and all are found in the southern half of the state.

“It’s a long ways from here to Meridian or Pocatello,” Amador said. “The way we have it now just isn’t sustainable.”

The bill was born after a conversation between Amador and Cynthia Pemberton, president of Lewis-Clark State College, one that tried to dissect the challenges facing the university.

“If the proposal to amend the statute moves forward successfully, Lewis-Clark will be allowed the opportunity to put forward graduate-level coursework ... for Idaho State Board of Education consideration,” Pemberton said. “The immediate focus would be to transition the current upper-division nurse management/leadership certificate to 400 [or] 500-level. Ultimately, if there is sufficient demand, we would explore moving the certificate program to a master’s degree in nurse leadership.”

Joan Simon, chief nursing officer at Kootenai Health, called the opportunity to expand education opportunities at Lewis-Clark “vital.”

“Having graduate-level programs available at Lewis-Clark State College means nurses are able to maintain current and vital health care positions while [pursuing] education opportunities,” Simon wrote, “instead of leaving our community and our patients.”

Simon cited nursing leadership positions and education roles, both of which require master’s degrees.

Becker’s Hospital Review reported last year that Idaho ranks 45th in the nation in the number of registered nurses per capita, the latest figure to mark a decades-long nursing shortage. Kootenai Health, amid the backdrop of what Simon calls an aggressive recruitment campaign, has more than 100 open nursing positions.

While the language of the amendment doesn’t specifically target the nursing field — thus paving the way for graduate degrees in other fields — the current cost-cutting crisis among colleges likely precludes a hypothetical wave of graduate courses outside the medical field, according to Amador and Pemberton.

Pemberton stressed that such a hypothetical was putting the cart long before the horse.

“It is important to note that the statute change is the first step,” she said. “Beyond this step, curricula would need to be developed, approved by both our accrediting agencies and the [Idaho] State Board of Education before we could begin delivery. This could be a year-long process beyond the statute change timeline.”

That next step begins in Boise this morning, where Amador will present HB 395 to the State Education Committee for a full hearing. If approved, the bill will then go to the House for a vote, followed by a mirror vote in the Senate Education Committee and the Senate floor.

“I’m pretty confident about it,” Amador said. “[Today] is probably the most critical juncture.”