Healthcare Powered Politics
Healthcare Powered Politics means we UNITE to protect healthcare professionals and their patients by taking on corporations that put profit ahead of compassionate care.
legislative priorities
Our legislative program is focused on the needs of our members, with a primary focus on ensuring that California laws promote safe, fair, and supportive working conditions for nurses and certified healthcare professionals. We actively advocate for policies that enhance patient care and protect our members, while also working to block any legislation that prioritizes corporate profit over patient safety. By aligning our efforts with the well-being of both healthcare professionals and the communities they serve, we strive to create a healthcare system that values people over profit.
Improving healthcare one law at a time
Strong Laws We’ve Won
We work hard to provide the best possible care for our patients. But sometimes…it takes a LAW. By using our collective political strength and contributing to our Union’s voluntary political fund, we’ve won important Nursing laws.
2020: PPE stockpile mandate
Senator Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) and Senator Connie M. Leyva (D-Chino) worked with us to author SB 275, designed to avoid future catastrophic shortages of PPE.
2019: Stop Repeat Offender Hospitals
Twenty years earlier, we won nurse-to-patient ratios in California. This new law (Senate Bill 227, Leyva-D) finally gave us an enforcement mechanism to discourage repeat offender hospitals that ignore those regulations.
2017: Whistleblower Protection
This important law (Assembly Bill 1102, Rodriguez-D) increased fines to up to $75,000 for employers that retaliate against RNs and other healthcare professionals when we report unlawful assignments that put patient safety and our licenses at risk.
2014: Workplace Violence Protection
SEIU Nurses in California again led the nation with the country’s first comprehensive law to prevent workplace violence against healthcare workers (SB 1299, Padilla-D). Healthcare and social service workers are 500% more likely to experience violence on the job than any other worker in the U.S. In this campaign to win a Cal/OSHA standard, we exposed just how bad it is by sharing our own experiences.
2011: Safe Patient Handling
Governor Brown signed this landmark legislation (AB 1136, Swanson-D) in 2011 and it took effect in 2014. RNs and other hospital workers fought for this new standard, which aims to limit the staggering number of workplace injuries suffered when lifting, repositioning and transferring our patients. The law requires hospitals to protect healthcare workers from back and musculoskeletal injuries, while also protecting our patients.
2010: Aerosol Transmissible Disease Standard
SEIU Nurses here in California won the nation’s first workplace standard designed to protect healthcare and other workers from aerosol (airborne and droplet) transmitted diseases.
2009: Affordable Care Act
27 million Americans gained health insurance through the ACA, with access to quality, affordable coverage. Americans with pre-existing conditions, like high blood pressure or asthma, gained protections against insurers charging them more or denying coverage altogether.
2000: Needle Safety Law
Again leading the nation, SEIU RNs in California fought for and won state legislation in 1998 (Assembly Bill 1208; Migden-D) requiring OSHA to amend its Bloodborne Pathogens Standard. This paved the way for the national regulation signed into law by President Clinton in November 2000 that requires hospitals to provide preventative and protective equipment to eliminate or minimize exposure to contaminated sharps. When the AIDS epidemic erupted, SEIU nurses came forward to staff the first dedicated AIDS unit in the country. We were determined to counter discrimination and stigma with loving, compassionate, and dignified care for all our patients. Our union supported the moral imperative to care for everyone and created educational materials about AIDS for members.
1999: Nurse-to-Patient Ratios
Our Nurse-to-Patient ratio bill (Assembly Bill 394; Kuehl-D) was signed into law in October of 1999 by Governor Davis. To this day, California remains the only state in the country with nurse-to-patient ratio regulations for every acute care hospital unit.
2025: Better Enforcement Safer Patients
We Beat the Hospital Lobby—SB 596 Is Now Law! Governor Newsom signed SB 596, our union-backed bill to strengthen enforcement of nurse-to-patient ratios, starting January 1, 2026. Hospitals will face tougher penalties for repeated violations and must follow clear standards for on-call staffing. This victory protects patients and nurses—now let’s hold hospitals accountable by submitting ADOs for unsafe assignments.
2024: Secure Hospitals for All
September 28, 2024, Governor Newsom signed the Secure Hospitals for All bill (AB 2975), aimed at keeping healthcare workers and patients safe by reducing or eliminating the presence of weapons in hospitals. AB 2975 will bolster security in California’s hospitals by requiring the installation of weapon detection systems at key points where weapons are known to enter facilities, including main public entrances, as well as entrances to the Labor and Delivery and Emergency Departments. Additionally, the bill requires that hospitals utilize appropriately trained personnel — not healthcare workers — to conduct searches of patients’ belongings for contraband.
2021: Protecting our Patients Right To Know
In October, Governor Newsom signed AB 1422, our Patients' Right to Know bill, sponsored by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Canoga Park.) This law is aimed at hospitals that abuse the Program Flexibility process to side-step the law when it comes to safe staffing. It does so by putting transparency in the process, requiring hospitals to submit real evidence for needing a waiver, and by giving Nurses a voice in the decision to grant one.
July 2020: Protect workers affected by COVID-19
Early in the pandemic—at our urging—Governor Newsom signed an Executive Order to protect those of us who contract COVID-19 from unscrupulous employers who deny we caught it on the job. His temporary executive order shifted the burden of proof from the worker to the employer, who can only deny the benefits under strict, proven conditions. The executive order was retroactive from March 19, 2020—but it expired on July 5, 2020. SB 1159 corrected that. The assumption that healthcare workers contracted COVID-19 on the job is now a law. We worked with Senator Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) to introduce this bill, which codified the Governor’s executive order. The Governor signed SB 1159 into law on September 17, and went into effect immediately, retroactive to July 6, 2020.
2011: Safe Patient Handling
Governor Brown signed this landmark legislation (AB 1136, Swanson-D) in 2011 and it took effect in 2014. RNs and other hospital workers fought for this new standard, which aims to limit the staggering number of workplace injuries suffered when lifting, repositioning and transferring our patients. The law requires hospitals to protect healthcare workers from back and musculoskeletal injuries, while also protecting our patients.
2010: Aerosol Transmissible Disease Standard
SEIU Nurses here in California won the nation’s first workplace standard designed to protect healthcare and other workers from aerosol (airborne and droplet) transmitted diseases.
2009: Affordable Care Act
27 million Americans gained health insurance through the ACA, with access to quality, affordable coverage. Americans with pre-existing conditions, like high blood pressure or asthma, gained protections against insurers charging them more or denying coverage altogether.
2000: Needle Safety Law
Again leading the nation, SEIU RNs in California fought for and won state legislation in 1998 (Assembly Bill 1208; Migden-D) requiring OSHA to amend its Bloodborne Pathogens Standard. This paved the way for the national regulation signed into law by President Clinton in November 2000 that requires hospitals to provide preventative and protective equipment to eliminate or minimize exposure to contaminated sharps. When the AIDS epidemic erupted, SEIU nurses came forward to staff the first dedicated AIDS unit in the country. We were determined to counter discrimination and stigma with loving, compassionate, and dignified care for all our patients. Our union supported the moral imperative to care for everyone and created educational materials about AIDS for members.
1999: Nurse-to-Patient Ratios
Our Nurse-to-Patient ratio bill (Assembly Bill 394; Kuehl-D) was signed into law in October of 1999 by Governor Davis. To this day, California remains the only state in the country with nurse-to-patient ratio regulations for every acute care hospital unit.
2024: Secure Hospitals for All
September 28, 2024, Governor Newsom signed the Secure Hospitals for All bill (AB 2975), aimed at keeping healthcare workers and patients safe by reducing or eliminating the presence of weapons in hospitals. AB 2975 will bolster security in California’s hospitals by requiring the installation of weapon detection systems at key points where weapons are known to enter facilities, including main public entrances, as well as entrances to the Labor and Delivery and Emergency Departments. Additionally, the bill requires that hospitals utilize appropriately trained personnel — not healthcare workers — to conduct searches of patients’ belongings for contraband.
2021: Protecting our Patients Right To Know
In October, Governor Newsom signed AB 1422, our Patients' Right to Know bill, sponsored by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Canoga Park.) This law is aimed at hospitals that abuse the Program Flexibility process to side-step safe the law when it comes to safe staffing. It does so by putting transparency in the process, requiring hospitals to submit real evidence for needing a waiver, and by giving Nurses a voice in the decision to grant one.
July 2020: Protect workers affected by COVID-19
Early in the pandemic—at our urging—Governor Newsom signed an Executive Order to protect those of us who contract COVID-19 from unscrupulous employers who deny we caught it on the job. His temporary executive order shifted the burden of proof from the worker to the employer, who can only deny the benefits under strict, proven conditions. The executive order was retroactive from March 19, 2020—but it expired on July 5, 2020. SB 1159 corrected that. The assumption that healthcare workers contracted COVID-19 on the job is now a law. We worked with Senator Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) to introduce this bill, which codified the Governor’s executive order. The Governor signed SB 1159 into law on September 17, and went into effect immediately, retroactive to July 6, 2020.
2020: PPE stockpile mandate
Senator Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) and Senator Connie M. Leyva (D-Chino) worked with us to author SB 275, designed to avoid future catastrophic shortages of PPE.
2019: Stop Repeat Offender Hospitals
Twenty years earlier, we won nurse-to-patient ratios in California. This new law (Senate Bill 227, Leyva-D) finally gave us an enforcement mechanism to discourage repeat offender hospitals that ignore those regulations.
2017: Whistleblower Protection
This important law (Assembly Bill 1102, Rodriguez-D) increased fines to up to $75,000 for employers that retaliate against RNs and other healthcare professionals when we report unlawful assignments that put patient safety and our licenses at risk.
2014: Workplace Violence Protection
SEIU Nurses in California again led the nation with the country’s first comprehensive law to prevent workplace violence against healthcare workers (SB 1299, Padilla-D). Healthcare and social service workers are 500% more likely to experience violence on the job than any other worker in the U.S. In this campaign to win a Cal/OSHA standard, we exposed just how bad it is by sharing our own experiences.
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SEIU 121RN strives to be an influential voice in policy-making through advocacy and electing allies to office in order to improve our jobs, and to improve patient and nurse safety.
We not only do this through taking political action, but by contributing to our Healthcare-Powered Politics fund.
Also known as COPE (Committee on Political Education), this voluntary fund gives our union the resources to move voters and decision-makers in office in order to help us further our mission.
