Legislative Updates

August 2012

Election

UNAC/UHCP members have been making the connection between the candidates we elect to office and the laws and regulations passed to protect patient safety and affordable health care. During the primary election, members hosted phone banking parties, walked precincts to knock on doors, and talked to their co-workers about the election.

“In order to safely take care of patients, we have to elect the right people to office,” said Machelle Bailey, an RN in Internal Medicine at UNAC/UHCP’s Kaiser Riverside affiliate who joined other UNAC/UHCP members in phone banking for political candidates.

The stakes will be even higher in November. Plan now to help elect pro-patient candidates and fight the ballot proposition known as “Special Exemptions Act” that threatens our ability to be involved in the political process in the future.

Our Staffing Enforcement Bill Continues to Move

The California Assembly Committee on Health has passed Senate Bill 1246, sponsored by UNAC/UHCP and authored by Dr. Ed Hernandez. Our bill is designed to create stronger mechanisms to ensure that hospitals comply with nurse staffing ratios and patient classification systems.

Despite continued opposition from the California Hospital Association, our bill passed on to the Assembly Appropriations Committee with bipartisan support. The next hearing date has not been set. A special thank you to all the Registered Nurses who wrote letters to their Senate and Assembly Members in support of SB 1246! We will be recruiting letters to the Governor so stay tuned.