The Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) allows registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical nurses (LPNs) who meet a high standard for licensure to have one multistate license that allows them to practice in all NLC states without applying, paying, or waiting for additional licenses. It’s an agreement between all participating U.S. jurisdictions. This is the longest standing professional licensing compact – reaching its 25th anniversary this year – and therefore is the most well-vetted professional licensing compact.

As leaders in public protection, State Boards of Nursing across the country enhanced the NLC in 2017/2018 by adding a requirement that a license could not have disciplinary against it, nor could a licensee have been convicted of a felony or nursing-related misdemeanor, if they wish to qualify for a multistate license, in addition to the other requirements already established related to examination, education, and training. (Those who don’t meet these requirements can still apply for single-state licenses in each state they want to practice in, and their applications will be reviewed by that state’s board, just as they can now.) States had to readopt the enhanced version to ensure all multistate license holders meet the same standards; grandfathering in was not an option. This means every nurse holding a multistate license has met the same high standards, eliminating any concern that joining the NLC will lower the quality of care in the state.

The Alaska State Board of Nursing voted to support joining the NLC after it was enhanced in 2017/2018. The board also conducted surveys in 2019 and 2023, both of which show Alaska's nurses overwhelming support joining the NLC, as do almost all of Alaska's health care facilities and organizations. The Dunleavy Administration first introduced legislation in 2020 to join the NLC, but NLC bills have yet to be passed by the Alaska Legislature.

Currently, 43 U.S. jurisdictions have enacted the NLC. Click here to view the NLC map. The longer we wait to join, the harder it is to find nurses willing to come to Alaska when we make them obtain an additional license instead of being able to use their multistate license as they can in 43 U.S. jurisdictions. 22% of the RNs at Alaska’s hospitals are travel nurses, so ensuring that these travel nurses continue to come to Alaska is essential, especially considering Alaska has seen growth in the senior population in excess of 50% in recent years.

To join the NLC, a state's legislature must pass a bill to adopt the standard NLC language exactly as adopted by all participating states into their state statutes – which is how we ensure all nurses have met the same standards. However, the compact language does not overhaul any nursing laws, so each state continues to retain full state sovereignty and authority over the nursing practice laws within its borders.

Joining the NLC will:

• Eliminate bureaucratic policies that require licensing staff to spend time duplicating work already done by another state to ensure a nurse is qualified and fit to practice in our state.
• Allow our division to better service Alaska-licensed nurses by reducing processing and response times due to the reduction of redundant paperwork.
• Reduce the burden, cost, and wait time for experienced nurse's interested in working in Alaska.
• Make it easier for a nurse to “try” Alaska and realize they want to make it their permanent home.
• Allow Alaska's hospitals and healthcare facilities to recruit and employ nurses more quickly, ensuring better access to health care for Alaskan residents.
• Expected reduction in nurse licensing fees in Alaska, due to the major decrease of redundant work.
• Provide efficiency and ease of transition for active-duty military members or spouses who are RNs or LPNs coming to Alaska.
• Help Alaska's economy, as the U.S. Department of Defense has stated military expansion decisions will include consideration of which states have demonstrated support for military families through license mobility laws and provisions.
• Help communities hire the support they need so they don’t have to close any more hospice facilities, long-term face facilities, etc.

Current Efforts: This Legislative Session (2025-2026), Governor Dunleavy has introduced House Bill (HB) 131 and Senate Bill (SB) 124: Two identical bills that will enact the NLC in Alaska! Please consider reaching out to your legislators and, if you're a nurse, union representatives to voice your position on this matter!

To submit a letter of support for the NLC, email House.Labor.And.Commerce@akleg.gov and Senate.Labor.And.Commerce@akleg.gov, and copy your legislators and BoardofNursing@Alaska.Gov:

• Subject line: “Support for HB 131 and SB 124”
• In the body of your email, include –
  • Your full name
  • That you’re writing in support of the NLC
  • Your reason for caring (i.e., are you an Alaska-licensed nurse? Nurse licensed elsewhere that would like to come to Alaska without so many barriers? Military family? Alaska resident or patient who’s witnessed the need for more nurses in our state? etc.)
  • If you want to, additional reasons why the NLC is necessary in Alaska (although you don’t have to include this).

To identify your legislators, go to akleg.gov. Scroll to the bottom of the home page, and you’ll see a box that says, Who Represents Me? Enter your address and select “Find”. This will show you which senator and representative have been elected in your district. If you click on their picture, you will be brought to the webpage with their contact information.

Past Efforts: In the 31st (2019-2020) and 32nd (2021-2022) Legislative Sessions, Governor Dunleavy introduced legislation to allow Alaska to join the NLC, but despite the Board of Nursing's and the Dunleavy Administration’s efforts to address the workforce shortage issues in Alaska and improve licensure processing times for nurses through this legislation, the bills did not pass.

In the 33rd (2023-2024) Legislative Session, Representative Mike Prax and Senator Donny Olson both sponsored bills that would have allowed Alaska to join the NLC if passed by the Alaska Legislature. However, neither bill made it to the finish line before the session ended on May 15, 2024.

The board, the Dunleavy Administration, and more than 75 organizations and entities that are directly or indirectly impacted by the nursing shortage in Alaska will continue to advocate for this great need until our efforts are successful and NLC legislation is passed.

To voice your support for Alaska joining the NLC, please see our guidance on how to contact your legislators, above and below.

Joining the NLC is a win-win for the state and for all Alaskans. It allows us to maintain our current licensure options while increasing access to quality health care across Alaska’s communities by helping fill the hundreds of nursing vacancies across the state by allowing nurses that meet standards higher than Alaska’s nurse licensure requirements to practice in the state without having to apply, pay, and wait for an Alaska-specific license.

Alaska's Nursing Shortage: (From the 2023 Alaska Healthcare Workforce Analysis)

• Alaska is projected to lead the nation in nursing vacancy rates by 2030.
• Alaska had a 22% vacancy rate in RN positions in its hospitals.
• The average time to fill a vacant hospital RN position is 118 days and 157 days for a long-term care facility RN position.
• Alaska needs 1,350 new nursing recruits annually.
• Nurse vacancies result in less access to care for Alaskans, clinic/facility closures, longer wait times as hospitals and ERs, and potentially delivery of lower standards of care.
• The longer Alaska waits to join the NLC and requires nurses to get an Alaska-specific license when most other states do not, the harder it will become to recruit travel nurses.

Alaska's Public Safety Under the NLC:

• The requirements to qualify for a multistate NLC license are more stringent than the requirements to obtain an Alaska-specific nurse license.
• Nurses cannot qualify for a multistate license if they have not passed the national nursing examination, if their license has been disciplined, if they've ever been convicted of a felony, or if they've ever been convicted of a misdemeanor related to nursing practice.
• The Alaska Board of Nursing has unanimously supported and pursued Alaska joining the NLC since 2019.The Dunleavy Administration's support and pursuit of NLC legislation, which also began in 2019, stemmed from the board's support and desire to join.

Alaska's Retained State Sovereignty Under the NLC:

• It's literally written into the NLC language that will be enacted into law!
• Article VII(a)(3) and III(d)-(e) confirm Alaska will retain state sovereignty and all regulatory authority of nursing practice in the state, regardless of whether the nurses is practicing under a license issued by the Alaska Board of Nursing, or a multistate license issued by a party state.
• All nurses are required to comply with the nursing laws in the state their patient is located, regardless of where the nurse is located, or which state issued their nursing license - same as is required now.

Authority Over the NLC:

• Because each state must adopt the standard compact language into their state statutes, the primary function requirements of the NLC cannot change unless and until the change is enacted into the laws of all party states.
• Only the NLC Commission can amend or create rules and bylaws, and those must only be within the authority given within the standard compact language adopted into each party state's laws.

Though the NLC was created by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), it's governed only by the NLC Commission which is made up of one administrator from each party state who each gets one vote. Only the NLC Commission has authority, and NCSBN does not have a seat at that table.

Yes! 92% of Alaska nurses support joining the NLC!!

How do we know? The Alaska Board of Nursing sent surveys to all Alaska-licensed RNs and LPNs in 2019 and 2023. Each survey received a 22% response rate (which is high for any survey) showing 92% support Alaska joining the NLC; with only 5% opposing and the other 3% having no opinion.

Further, 89% of Alaskan-resident nurses and 85% of union nurses also support Alaska becoming a member of the NLC.

Full survey results are available here.

The question should really be who doesn't! The organizations that support Alaska joining the NLC include, but are not limited to:

• Airlift Northwest
• Alaska APRN Alliance
• Alaska Association on Developmental Disabilities
• Alaska Behavioral Health Association
• Alaska Behavioral Health Services
• Alaska Board of Pharmacy
• Alaska Chamber of Commerce
• Alaska Commission on Aging
• Alaska Department of Commerce, Community, and Economic Development
• Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (now Department of Health and Department of Family and Community Services)
• Alaska Department of Military and Veterans Affairs
• Alaska Division of Public Health
• Alaska Hospital and Healthcare Association (AHHA; previously ASHNHA)
• Alaska Municipal League
• Alaska Native Health Board
• Alaska Native Medical Center
• Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium
• Alaska's Nurses!
• Alaska Pacific Regional Hospital
• Alaska Pacific University School of Nursing
• Alaska Primary Care Association
• Alaska Psychiatric Institute (API)
• Alaska Public Health Association
• Alaska Regional Hospital
• Alaska State Medical Association
• Alliance for Connected Care
• Alzheimer's Resource of Alaska
• American Academy of Ambulatory Care Nursing
• American Association of Colleges of Nursing
• American Association of Occupational Health Nurses
• American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)
• American Telemedicine Association (ATA)
• Anchorage Chamber of Commerce
• Asian American/Pacific Islander Nurses Association
• Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC)
• Bartlett Regional Hospital
• Bristol Bay Area Health Corporation
• Central Peninsula Hospital
• Charter College School of Nursing
• City of Seward
• Cordova Community Medical Center
• Denali Center Fairbanks
• Eleventh Air Force, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (JBER)
• Emergency Nurses Association
• Fairbanks Memorial Hospital
• Fairbanks North Star Borough
• Foundation Health Partners
• Fresenius Kidney Care
• Heritage Place
• Kodiak Island Borough
• Maniilaq Health Center
• Maple Springs Palmer
• Maple Springs Wasilla
• Mat-Su Health Foundation
• Mat-Su regional Medical Center
• MODA
• National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN)
• National Governor's Association Center for Best Practices
• National League for Nursing
• National Military Family Association
• National Patient Safety Foundation
• National Student Nurses' Association
• North Star Behavioral Health
• Norton Sound Health Corporation
• PeaceHealth Ketchikan Medical Center
• Petersburg Medical Center
• Population Health Alliance
• Premera Blue Cross Blue Shield Alaska
• Prestige Care and Rehabilitation of Anchorage
• Providence Alaska Medical Center
• Providence Extended Care
• Providence Horizon House
• Providence Kodiak Island Medical Center
• Providence Seward Medical Center
• Providence St. Elias Specialty Hospital
• Providence Transitional Care Center
• Providence Valdez Medical Center
• Quyanna Care Center
• SEARHC Mt. Edgecumbe Hospital
• SEARHC Sitka Long-Term Care
• SEARHC Wrangell Medical Center
• South Peninsula Hospital
• Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium (SEARHC)
• Tanana Valley Clinic Fairbanks
• The Alaska State Board of Nursing
• U.S. Department of Commerce
• U.S. Department of Defense
• U.S. Renal Care
• UAA School of Nursing
• Wildflower Court
• Yukon-Kuskokwim Health Corporation

Talk to your Legislators and, if you're a nurse, your union representatives!

The best way to voice your support for adopting the NLC in Alaska is to reach out to your legislators via email (see guidance below), phone, or in-person meetings to voice your support for Alaska joining the NLC. Most legislators who have been in office longer than just this year have heard our reasoning for joining the NLC, but now they need to hear testimonials from nurses and Alaska residents!

You can also call in to provide verbal testimony to voice your support for the NLC. To know when the NLC legislative bills will be heard in committee, and therefore when you can call in to testify, text HB131 to 559-245-2529; then text SB124 to the same number (559-245-2529). This way, you’ll receive text messages notifying you when each bill is scheduled to be heard.

If you have questions or would like us to notify you of bill hearings, email BoardofNursing@Alaska.Gov.

For additional guidance on identifying, contacting, or addressing a letter to your legislators, visit the Alaska State Legislature’s Frequently Asked Questions.

To submit a letter of support for the NLC, email House.Labor.And.Commerce@akleg.gov and Senate.Labor.And.Commerce@akleg.gov, and copy your legislators and BoardofNursing@Alaska.Gov:

• Subject line: “Support for HB 131 and SB 124”
• In the body of your email, include –
  • Your full name
  • That you’re writing in support of the NLC
  • Your reason for caring (i.e., are you an Alaska-licensed nurse? Nurse licensed elsewhere that would like to come to Alaska without so many barriers? Military family? Alaska resident or patient who’s witnessed the need for more nurses in our state? etc.)
  • If you want to, additional reasons why the NLC is necessary in Alaska (although you don’t have to include this).

To identify your legislators, go to akleg.gov. Scroll to the bottom of the home page, and you’ll see a box that says, Who Represents Me? Enter your address and select “Find”. This will show you which senator and representative have been elected in your district. If you click on their picture, you will be brought to the webpage with their contact information.

• General Information on the NLC:
  • Why Alaska Needs the NLC
  • The Alaska Hospital & Healthcare Association’s (AHHA’s) 2024 Healthcare Workforce Analysis Report
  • DCCED-CBPL NLC One-Pager
  • 2023 Survey of Alaska Nurses' View on the NLC
  • The Alaska Hospital & Healthcare Association's (AHHA's) 2023 Alaska Healthcare Workforce Analysis Report
  • AHHA's NLC Flyer
  • NCSBN's NLC Website
  • States with Largest Nursing Shortages (Alaska’s at the top)
  • 2019 Survey of Alaska Nurses’ View on the NLC
• How the NLC Supports the Military & Military Spouses:
  • U.S. Air Force Support of Military Veterans: Professional Licensure Portability in Basing Decisions
  • U.S. Department of Defense – Military Spouse Licensure: State Best Practices and Strategies for Achieving Reciprocity Report
  • Council of State Governments: U.S. Air Force to Evaluate State Occupational Licensing Policies for Future Basing Decisions
  • Professional Licensing Report: U.S. Partially Bases Choice of Sites for Military Bases on States’ Success in Improving Reciprocity
  • MilitaryTimes: Here’s What DoD Wants States To Do To Help Military Spouses with Their Occupational Licenses