The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) The State of California faces an ever-increasing nursing shortage that jeopardizes the health and well-being of the state’s citizens.
(b) Colleges and universities need to expand nursing education programs to prepare more nurses to meet the state’s growing demand for nurses. An estimated state shortage of 47,600 registered nurses is expected by 2010, and by 2020 the shortage is projected to reach 116,600 according to the Governor’s California Nurse Education Initiative Annual Report, September 2006.
(c) Well-trained nursing faculty and practitioners are critical to the ability to expand nursing programs.
(d) Because of the urgent need to prepare and graduate increased numbers of nurses, it is the intent of the Legislature to establish a pilot program that grants the California State University authority to offer the Doctor of Nursing Practice degree, as an exception to the Master Plan for Higher Education.