Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/198555
NewsBriefs:October 2007 11/16/07 2:14 PM Page 7 2007 Legislative Update 2007 was an extremely complex year to navigate, with many varied healthcare proposals and the politics surrounding them. Extremely well-funded corporate and insurance interests weighed in with the governor and the legislators to try to carve up the uninsured population into yet more customers. This year is also the first of a two-year legislative cycle, in which bills that do not pass out of the Legislature this year can be brought up again in 2008. The following is a list of bills important to CNA/NNOC nurses and their final disposition for the year. Signed by the Governor SB 139 (Scott) Nursing education. CNA/ NNOC supported this bill to protect the appropriation of $14 million in ongoing nursing education dollars primarily for community colleges but also graduate schools which we achieved in the past few years. These dollars fund about 1,000 new slots for students. SB 306 (Ducheny) Seismic safety. This bill gives many hospitals extensions on their seismic obligations until 2020. CNA/NNOC was the only organization that vigorously opposed this legislation, holding a successful press conference in September in front of Los Angeles' Good Samaritan Hospital where nurses advocated for the safety of hospital staff and patients who are at risk in a major seismic event. The hospitals were originally told in 1994 to retrofit the worst buildings by 2008. Most have ignored this mandate. AB 3 (Bass) Physician assistants. This bill increases the number of physician assistants (PAs) that doctors can supervise from two to four. CNA/NNOC ensured that the bill included provisions requiring PAs meet educational requirements at the same level as NPs if the PA issues a drug order for controlled substances schedule II through V. Vetoed SB 120 (Padilla) Nutritional labeling. This bill would have required nutritional information be posted on restaurant menus. SB 171 (Perata) Lift teams/back injury prevention, "zero lift policy." CNA/NNOC-sponsored bill. Governor vetoed for the fourth consecutive year due to opposition by California Hospital Association even though Kaiser Permanente and the Association of California Healthcare Districts supported the bill. SB 275 (Cedillo) Patient dumping. Even though this bill was vetoed, testimony by CNA/NNOC was instrumental in making it a misdemeanor when a hospital was guilty of patient dumping. Because of our advocacy, the city of Los Angeles is also developing a city ordinance based on the failed legislation. AB 8 (Nunez) Healthcare. A bill expanding insurance-based healthcare which CNA/ NNOC strongly opposed. Two-year bills SB 583 (Hancock) Clean money. Would establish publicly-financed campaigns. CNA/ NNOC strongly supports. Held in Senate Elections Committee. SB 840 (Kuehl) Single-payer. CNA/NNOC is principle sponsor. This bill is pending a hearing in the assembly appropriations committee. AB 64 (Berg) Emergency RN volunteers for disasters. CNA/NNOC-sponsored bill. This bill would have established a procedure for RNs to coordinate and integrate all state activities concerning emergency medical services, and implement guidelines for emergency medical service systems. Even though the bill was consented on through the process, the administrative bureaucracy halted the signing of this bill due to suspicious circumstances. AB 371 (Huffman) Heath facilities: taxexempt bonds. This CNA/NNOC-sponsored bill required health facilities using taxexempt bonds to fund patient lift equipment. This bill was suspiciously "lost" in the transmittal back to the Assembly for concurrence and therefore didn't make it out of the Legislature. AB 1201 (Leno) RN collective bargaining rights. This CNA/NNOC-sponsored bill would overturn the Kentucky River decision that unjustly classified certain nurses as "supervisors," thus making them ineligible to join unions. CALIFORNIA R egistered nurse members of Nurses Professional Organization, a Kentucky nursing organization affiliated with CNA/NNOC, worked with the AFL-CIO to make crucial house visits to union members in November to help get out the vote for pro-labor gubernatorial candidate Steve Beshear and lieutenant gubernatorial candidate Daniel Mongiardo. The election was a critical one in swinging Kentucky back into progressive territory; Beshear and Mongiardo won. Beshear, a supporter of labor and the Employee Free Choice Act, stands in stark contrast to previous governor Ernie Fletcher, who had tried to pass right-to-work legislation, cancelled collective bargaining rights for state workers, privatized the state's Medicaid program, and attacked workers' wages. —staff report NOVEMBER 2007 W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G REGISTERED NURSE 7