In effect as of January 1, 2020!Click here to review the bill's progress.Click here for the bill's Co-authors and Supporters. |
Patients suffer when hospitals ignore the law. That's why, on February 7, 2019, Senator Connie M. Leyva (SD 20) introduced our "Stop Repeat Offender Hospitals" bill back into the California legislature with even stronger language to rein in hospitals that cut corners and put profits before patients.
On October 12, 2019, Governor Newsom signed the bill into law.
California leads the nation in regulations protecting patients and Registered Nurses. The problem is that there’s no enforcement of those regulations. Too many California hospitals ignore the laws that set minimum staffing levels in Emergency Rooms, Intensive Care Units, Labor & Delivery Floors and other patient care areas. This endangers patients, is an unnecessary stress on families, and puts nurses’ licenses and livelihoods at risk.
Here's how we won this:
Senate Bill 227
Just like 2018’s version (SB 1288), this new bill mandates (now a law as of January 1, 2020):
- Unannounced inspections specifically looking at nurse-to-patient staffing ratios; and
- A fine structure for violating those safe staffing regulations (regardless of outcome)
In 2018, we did some amazing work getting our bill all the way to the Governor’s desk with our phone calls, postcards and lobby visits to legislators.
Click »»» here for highlights of our fight for SB 1288 last year.
Unfortunately, our bosses over at the California Hospital Association (the same bosses who cut corners at our hospitals) convinced Governor Brown in 2018 that: “There are no staffing issues in our hospitals. Staffing problems hardly ever happen.” |
So yeah...we didn't give up!
We refused to stop until we won real accountability for California's groundbreaking nurse-to-patient ratio laws. We fought to put some real teeth into Title 22 safe staffing regulations. California may have great safe staffing minimums in writing, but that means nothing if hospital administrators can simply ignore the regulations with no fear of penalty.
We exposed the false narrative one personal example at a time...
We knew that the California Hospital Association would again spend millions aggressively broadcasting their fairytale all over Sacramento, including the offices of our new Governor and many new state legislators. For the second year in a row, they made this their "#1 Kill Bill." Many of our own employers wrote letters expressing their strong opposition.
| In 2019 we made sure no one believes that there’s nothing wrong in our hospitals. We know that too many of our hospitals are cutting corners with unsafe staffing, poor acuity measurements, doubling up on patient loads during meal breaks, floating us without the proper training and more. |
An amazing group of nurses (like Jennifer, Sally, Mary, Monique, Kathy, Joyce, Alvin and Yolanda) came forward to share what it’s really like to work on our floors when hospitals cut corners on staffing.
More of us spoke out against the false picture CHA painted about staffing at our hospitals.
We knew it was time to speak out and fight the fairytale:
