Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/971007
20 It took years of rallies, protests, public hearings, meetings with legislators, and tens of thousands of letters to newspapers, but California RNs never gave up until safe patient ratios were in place in every acute-care hospital. The nurses' vigilance to protect the ratios continues to this day. CNA wins first state-mandated ratios for intensive care units 1:2. CNA proposes the first hospital-wide ratio legislation in the U.S. — A.B. 1445. CNA-sponsored ratio bill (A.B. 695) wins approval in the Legislature for the first time. RNs flood the state Capitol with letters, calls, and postcards. Gov. Pete Wilson vetoes the bill after extensive lobbying by the hospital industry. A.B. 394 is introduced by Assemblymember Sheila Kuehl. CNA presents 14,000 letters in support and commissions an opinion poll showing 80 percent public support for bill. After 2,500 CNA RNs rally, Legislature passes A.B. 394 and Gov. Gray Davis signs into law. The bill directs the California Department of Health Services to determine specific ratios. In a joint press conference with the CNA Board of Directors, Gov. Davis presents the ratios that are ultimately adopted. The hospital industry's proposal of 1:10 for medical surgical, telemetry, and oncology units is soundly defeated. January 1, RN staffing ratios become effective in all California acute-care hospitals. A California Superior Court rejects a hospital industry lawsuit and upholds the law ruling that ratios must be maintained at all times, including during meal and rest breaks. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger issues an emergency regulation which suspended portions of the ratio law in medical surgical units and emergency departments. CNA's campaign of public protests, radio and TV ads, and RN letters to the editor, garners extensive worldwide media. CNA files a lawsuit against Schwarzenegger's emergency regulations, charging that the governor exceeded his authority by seeking to overturn a legislative mandate to protect patient safety. Paving the Way The CNA/NNU fight to win first-in-the-nation ratios in California 1976 1993 1998 1999 2002 2004