Florida Senate - 2025 (NP) SR 672
By Senator Rodriguez
40-01346-25 2025672__
1 Senate Resolution
2 A resolution requesting the National Council of State
3 Boards of Nursing to develop the National Council
4 Licensure Examination for nurse licensure in Spanish.
5
6 WHEREAS, the National Council of State Boards of Nursing
7 (NCSBN) develops and distributes the National Council Licensure
8 Examination (NCLEX) to Florida and other states in the United
9 States, and
10 WHEREAS, Hispanics and Latinos comprise the second-largest
11 racial and ethnic group in Florida at 26 percent of the
12 population, with more than 5 million residents, and
13 WHEREAS, prior experience and studies have shown that test
14 results on the NCLEX, which is a timed, adaptive test, are lower
15 for testers when English is the tester’s second language, and
16 WHEREAS, in 2012, Canada adopted the NCLEX as its licensing
17 examination, even though it was offered only in English, and
18 first-time success rates on the examination for French-Canadian
19 testers fell from 91 percent to 32 percent, and
20 WHEREAS, in 2019, the NCSBN granted Canada’s request to
21 prepare and offer the NCLEX in French because French-Canadian
22 students were passing the English-only version of the NCLEX at a
23 lower rate than comparable English-speaking students, and
24 WHEREAS, once the NCLEX was offered in French, the passage
25 rates of French-Canadian speaking students on the nursing exam
26 increased substantially, resulting in more available nurses, and
27 WHEREAS, now the NCLEX is translated in French and offered
28 to meet the needs of French-speaking Canadian NCLEX candidates,
29 and
30 WHEREAS, there are several Florida licensing examinations
31 already offered in Spanish, such as licensure examinations for
32 dental hygienists, real estate agents, certified nursing
33 assistants, construction contractors, food protection managers,
34 cosmetologists, and massage therapists, and
35 WHEREAS, examinations for Florida’s driver licenses, Class
36 E driver licenses, CompTIA certification for IT and
37 cybersecurity professionals, and medical interpreter
38 certification are offered in six languages, including Spanish,
39 and
40 WHEREAS, several Florida licensing entities for Florida
41 professions offer special accommodations for people for whom
42 English is a second language, including, but not limited to,
43 electrical contractors, mental health counselors, psychologists,
44 physicians, optometrists, speech-language pathologists, and
45 chiropractic physicians, and
46 WHEREAS, other states are now offering licensing
47 examinations in Spanish, and
48 WHEREAS, according to the Florida Hospital Association,
49 Florida’s nursing shortage is expected to reach 59,000 vacancies
50 by 2035, and
51 WHEREAS, one of the goals of the Florida health care system
52 is to close the gap and increase the supply of available nurses
53 for hospitals and other health care facilities, and
54 WHEREAS, the Legislature has taken steps recently to
55 increase the supply of nurses in Florida with implementation of
56 the LINE Fund under s. 1009.8962, Florida Statutes, and the
57 PIPELINE Fund under s. 1009.897, Florida Statutes, to assist
58 nursing students and nursing programs through funding
59 mechanisms, NOW, THEREFORE,
60
61 Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
62
63 That the Senate recognizes that with a significant nursing
64 shortage in Florida, steps need to be taken to ensure that
65 nursing students graduating from Florida nursing programs have
66 the best chance possible to pass the NCLEX and work as nurses in
67 Florida.
68 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Senate requests the
69 National Council of State Boards of Nursing to replicate its
70 success in adapting the NCLEX for French-Canadian NCLEX
71 candidates and produce and distribute an NCLEX examination in
72 Florida, along with test materials, in Spanish.