Nurses lobby legislators for better working conditions, hospital association opposes legislation

OLYMPIA, Wash. — On Thursday, dozens of nurses with the Washington State Nurses Association (WSNA) lobbied lawmakers in Olympia to pass Senate Bill 5236.

The bill has three major parts: capping the number of patients a nurse can care for; reinforce a law regarding meals and breaks; and give nurses more say during committee meetings, according to Katharine Weiss, WSNA's director of government.

“Nurses are taking on double, triple what they are recommended to take on because there’s no other staff to help them out," Weiss said. "Sometimes it just means you might have to wait six hours or so before you can get into the ER, but sometimes it can mean the difference between life and death.