Open positions on new DOH / L&I Hospital Staffing Advisory Committee

The new staffing law (SB 5236) includes a provision creating a Hospital Staffing Advisory Committee. The Committee will advise the Department of Health (DOH) and Department of Labor & Industries (L&I) on certain aspects of implementation of the law, including development of a uniform hospital staffing plan form; evaluation of “innovative hospital staffing and care delivery models,” and reviewing a report on hospital staffing standards to be prepared by the Washington State Institute for Public Policy. It is likely that the Committee will be asked to advise on other items as well.

The Committee will meet monthly for 2 hours at a time, most likely through 2029, and may be asked to continue meeting beyond then. Many of the meetings will be in-person—locations have not yet been determined—and others will be virtual. According to DOH and L&I, all meetings will include a virtual option. We do not know yet about dates and times for the meetings.

The Committee will include 6 members and 6 alternates nominated jointly by WSNA, SEIU 1199NW and UFCW. We expect that this means that each organization will name 2 members and 2 alternates. (There will also be 6 members and 6 alternates nominated by the Washington State Hospital Association).

Of course, it will only be possible for us to nominate a small number of members; together with our labor partners, we will need the joint list to reflect diversity, including geographic diversity and different types of hospitals. And of course, experience on a hospital staffing committee will be one factor to take into account.

We know that there will be more members interested than there are positions on the Advisory Committee. All Advisory Committee meetings will be open to observers. We we will seek engagement and input from members — whether or not they are on the Committee — to inform our work on the Advisory Committee.