Bills › 90th General Assembly
Relating to prohibitions on noncompete covenants involving nurses and including applicability provisions
Topics:Health careJobs & workers
Where it is now
- Done: IntroducedFebruary 27, 2023
- Done: SubcommitteeMarch 2, 2023
- Stopped: Senate committeeDied when the General Assembly ended
- Next: Passes the Senate
- Next: House committee
- Next: Passes the House
- Next: To the Governor
- Next: Signed into law
Died when the session ended The 2024 session adjourned on April 19, 2024, the General Assembly’s last regular session. Bills that didn’t pass both chambers died. What’s a funnel?
What’s in it
AI summary New rules would stop employers from using certain noncompete agreements against registered nurses and advanced practice nurses. If a nurse earns less than 150 percent of the minimum wage, these agreements cannot be enforced at all. For nurses earning more than that amount, an employer can only use a noncompete if they can prove it is necessary to prevent unfair competition.1
Read the official explanation
This bill relates to noncompete covenants, as defined in the bill, contained within employment contracts involving nurses and provisions that are prohibited and void. The bill provides that if a person employed as a registered nurse or an advanced registered nurse practitioner makes less than 150 percent of the minimum wage, a noncompete covenant is unenforceable and violates the bill. The bill provides that a noncompete covenant with an employee who exceeds that wage threshold is unenforceable and violates the bill unless the employer can show that the noncompete covenant is necessary due to a clear and inherent risk of unfair competition and the noncompete covenant was narrowly tailored to mitigate the risk. The bill includes exceptions to these provisions. A prevailing employee is entitled to recover reasonable attorney fees, court costs, lost wages, and at the discretion of the court, liquidated damages of up to triple the amount of lost wages for willful violations of the bill. An employer found to be in violation of the bill is subject to a $5,000 penalty per violation payable to the labor commissioner for deposit in the general fund. The bill applies to covenants not to compete entered into on or after the effective date of the bill.
Senate subcommittee
Named March 2, 2023. It hasn’t reported yet.
Three legislators hear a bill first and recommend what the committee should do; it’s the best time to weigh in. How to take part
Family tree
90th General Assembly
Picked up later
Earlier and later bills are matched by wording or an identical title.
Tried before
This idea has been filed in an earlier General Assembly. None got through a chamber.
- SF 2302 Relating to prohibitions on noncompete covenants and including applicability provisions89th General Assembly · In committee · similarCleared committee
Similar bills this General Assembly
- SF 380 Relating to prohibitions on noncompete covenants involving nurses and including applicabil…91st General Assembly · In committeeNearly identical
- SF 304 Relating to prohibitions on noncompete covenants and including applicability provisions90th General Assembly · In committeeVery similar
Matched by wording or an identical title.