National Nurses United

NewsBriefsJuly 2006 7/25/06 7:46 PM Page 7 the initiative would raise about $200 million per year from a 0.2 percent increase in the corporate tax rate to fund these grants. Candidates that don't agree to run "clean" have tighter limits on amounts they can collect from corporations, unions, and individuals— as do so-called independent expenditure committees. Clean Money candidates can receive additional funds to stay competitive if their opponents outspend them. See the Yes on Prop 89 website, www.yeson89.org, for more details about the initiative. As of mid July, several prominent groups that have long advocated for public financing have endorsed CNA/NNOC's Clean Money initiative, including the California Clean Money Campaign, the Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights, the California League of Women Voters, and Public Campaign. California Assemblywoman Loni Hancock also announced in late June that she is dropping her sponsorship of AB 583, a bill very similar to the initiative, so that government reform groups can focus on passing the ballot measure. "People ask me all the time, 'Why are the nurses doing this?'" said DeAnn McEwen, an intensive care RN at Long Beach Memorial Medical Center. "I tell them that every day when I go to work, I see the real results of all those cash contributions to politicians from the HMOs, the insurers, the hospital associations, and the drug companies. That money translates into legislation that boosts corporate profits at the expense of patients. So I see late admissions, I see early discharges. I see young men and women in their 40s who can't afford their blood pressure medication, so they come in with renal failure, strokes, and heart attacks. I see short staffing. If registered nurses are going to really fulfill their role as patient advocates, then we need to support Clean Money and reform of this broken system." —staff report Ratios Get a Hearing in Illinois Left: CNA/NNOC's Hedy Dumpel, RN, JD spoke about California's ratios. Right: Batu Shakari, RN testified about Illinois' need for ratios. s cook county nurses hammered out a contract at the negotiating table, hundreds of Chicago-area nurses and concerned citizens gathered in June for a legislative hearing on safe RN-to-patient staffing ratios cosponsored by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee and the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees. The subcommittee hearing, chaired by State Senator Iris Martinez, sponsor of the Illinois senate ratio bill (SB 2270), capped two months of legislative work by CNA/NNOC nurses. In May and June nurses had met with key senators and representatives to begin the long, hard process of building political support for California-style ratios in Illinois. A J U LY 2 0 0 6 Speakers included Hedy Dumpel, RN, JD and CNA/NNOC's chief director of nursing practice and patient advocacy. Dumpel spoke about the gains made by nurses, patients, and hospitals as a result of the California law, but also addressed the organizing challenges presented by the state hospital association's opposition. Batu Shakari, a veteran medicalsurgical RN from Cook County's Stroger Hospital brought the house down with a stirring speech on the harsh realities of trying to practice safe patient care when severely understaffed and without the protection of required minimum ratios. The legislative hearings were followed two days later by another CNA/NNOC-sponsored hearing in Rockford, Ill., attended by RNs from Swedish American Hospital, Rockford Memorial Hospital, and St. Anthony Medical Center. Dumpel provided a presentation on the history of the fight to win safe ratios in California and how those lessons can be applied to a successful campaign in Illinois. Angela Brown, an RN at Swedish American Hospital, spoke to the assembly and local media about her support for ratios. "On a med-surg floor, nurses are able to provide an optimal standard of care when we have the necessary ratios," said Brown. "I would like to see nurses and patients in Illinois enjoy the same ratios that exist in California." This summer's political work has revealed that nurses face two major challenges in establishing ratios in Illinois. On the one hand, the Illinois Hospital Association has taken a firm position against ratios and lobbied the legislature aggressively. Meanwhile, the Illinois Nurses Association—still regarded as "the voice of Illinois nurses" by many legislators despite its dwindling membership— privately tried to kill the senate bill while publicly supporting it and has now reversed itself to adopt a neutral position. In the 2007 legislative session, CNA/NNOC nurses will make the case that, regardless of what the paid lobbyists of the IHA or INA may claim, Illinois nurses believe that the time for safe staffing is now. —frank borgers ILLINOIS W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G REGISTERED NURSE 7

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