Healthcare Powered Politics

SB 596

Better Enforcement.
Safer Patients.

“California’s nurse-to-patient ratios exist so nurses can fulfill their oath to patients. Understaffing leaves nurses exhausted and patients at risk. SB 596 gives more teeth to these essential protections — now hospitals and CDPH must follow the law.”

SB 596 standardizes the “On-Call” list some hospitals use to demonstrate their need to go out of ratio. Without a clear standard, hospitals could simply claim that they called a list of RNs, without making any real effort to find additional staff.

Lists must be comprised of nurses scheduled to be on-call, or assigned to a float pool for the specific unit and shift that is understaffed, and they must have validated competencies for the assignment they are called for.

SB 596 helps protect patients, preserve Nurses’ licenses, and push hospitals toward safer, more responsible staffing practices.

Laws only work when they are enforced — which is why documenting unsafe assignments through ADOs remains the most powerful tool nurses have to hold hospitals accountable.

SB 596 (Menjivar) strengthens enforcement of nurse-to-patient ratios that our union has fought to protect for decades. SB 596 brings long overdue consequences for facilities that repeatedly violate safe staffing standards.

SB 596 ends the practice of bundling; multiple out-of-ratio violations into a single penalty, ensuring that hospitals pay the full fines required by law for every offense — $15,000 for the first and $30,000 for every one after.

Take Action Now
Hold Hospitals
Accountable
Witnessed or worked an unsafe assignment? Document it.

FILE AN ADO

Takes less than 2 minutes — protects your license & your patients