Residents of Glenn, Tehama and Colusa counties who want to become registered nurses may get help from legislation signed by Gov. Davis last week.

The new law sets up a scholarship program for nursing students who live in areas where the nursing shortage is most extreme.

Funding for the scholarships will come from a $5 surcharge registered nurses pay when they renew their licenses.

The national nursing shortage is worse in California - particularly in parts of the Central Valley. Nationally, there are 798 nurses for every 100,000 people. California, which ranks 49th among the 50 states, has 566 RNs per 100,000 population. The Central Valley has just 416 nurses per 100,000 population.

Assembly Bill 1241, by Assembly member Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, makes scholarship money available to nursing students in 12 counties where the RN-to-population ratio is less than 500 per 100,000.

Those counties, besides Glenn, Tehama and Colusa, are Imperial, Kern, Kings, Lassen, Madera, Merced, Modoc, Tulare and Yuba.

Funding will come from the Registered Nurse Education Fund, which accumulates about $600,000 annually. The money is already used for scholarships for nurses. Ninety-five percent of scholarships from the fund currently go to nursing students pursuing bachelor's degrees in medically underserved areas of the state.

Shaaron Vogel, an instructor for Butte College's nursing program, said it appeared the new program could help some students at her college. A good number of nursing students come from Glenn County and sometimes a few come from Tehama and Colusa counties. Presumably, they would be eligible for these scholarships.

According to the bill, students who receive scholarships will be required to complete at least an associate of arts degree in nursing and to work in a medically underserved area of California upon being licensed as nurses.

"When Central Valley unemployment rates are consistently over 10 percent, and attrition rates at community college nursing programs are over 20 percent, we need to remove every possible financial barrier to education," Parra stated in a news release. "My hope is that this assistance will increase the likelihood that many nursing students will complete their studies and serve in the neediest areas of our state."

Lynn Phillips, chair of Butte College's department of nursing, said her program has about 100 students who are studying to be certified nurse assistants, licensed vocational nurses and registered nurses.

The nursing program at Butte is being somewhat reconfigured. When the new pattern is established, Phillips said, it's expected 33 RNs and 25 to 30 LVNs will be graduated each year.

Sherry Fox, director of Chico State University's School of Nursing, said the new program might take away some scholarship money that would have gone to nursing students at four-year schools but that she wasn't going to begrudge it.

Many nurses who get associate of arts degrees go on to earn bachelor's degrees, she said. In fact, Chico State has an on-line program for RNs with A.A. degrees to study for their bachelor's degrees. More than 100 students are now enrolled in that program.

Chico State graduates about 60 RNs each year from its regular nursing program.

AB1260 passed the Assembly, 77-2, and the state Senate, 30-3. Assembly members Rick Keene, R-Chico, and Doug LaMalfa, R-Richvale, voted for the bill. State Sen. Sam Aanestad, R-Grass Valley, also supported it. Sen. Rico Oller, R-San Andreas, was among the three senators who voted against the measure.