June 16, 2025
The Legislature adjourned Sine Die yesterday, March 10, marking the end of the 2022 Washington State Legislative session. Stay tuned for a full end of session report next, but until then, take a look at some of the major wins of the 2022 session.
March 11, 2022
Today the WA Safe + Healthy coalition released a joint statement on the state Senate failing to pass safe staffing standards for healthcare workers.
March 8, 2022
Yesterday, the Legislature reached the final cutoff for policy bills. All bills that did not make it past this deadline and are not necessary to implement the budget are no longer viable. Unfortunately, WSNA's number one priority, safe staffing legislation, didn't make it past this week's deadlines.
March 5, 2022
The Senate Ways and Means Committee did not pass our safe staffing bill out of committee by the deadline, meaning HB 1868 is very unlikely to pass this legislative cycle. We are deeply disappointed, but this is a delay, not defeat.
March 4, 2022
Both legislative budgets were released this week on Monday. We were excited to see funding for WSNA priorities, including school nurse funding, sexual assault nurse examiner training and workforce development. The Legislature also reached the second policy cutoff of the year on Thursday.
February 25, 2022
On Monday, the Legislature reached the house of origin cutoff. Most of our priority bills made is past this crucial deadline. Because most of our bills started in the House, we will now be working on moving those bills through the Senate.
February 18, 2022
The Office of the Governor is recruiting to fill vacancies on Washington state's Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission.
On Monday, the Legislature reached fiscal cut off for the house of origin. The rest of the week was spent on the Legislature caucusing and voting bills off the House and Senate floors. We are expecting the safe staffing bill to be voted on by the house any day now.
February 11, 2022
Listen to David discuss his path to WSNA and current issues in nursing like safe staffing in this hourlong conversation.
A review of recent national and Washington State nurse staffing data and survey results indicates that there are enough nurses to safely staff hospitals, but that the quality of jobs is leading many qualified registered nurses to leave their Washington hospital jobs.
February 10, 2022
The Legislature reached major milestone this week. Thursday was the cutoff for policy bills in their house of origin. This means that no new bills will be introduced this session unless they are necessary to implement the budget.
February 4, 2022
Washington State Nursing Commission determines that graduates of five Florida schools do not meet minimum requirements for licensure in the state of Washington.
January 31, 2022
This week the House Labor Committee took executive action on the safe staffing bill, HB 1868. The Senate Labor Committee heard testimony from two WSNA nurses on a bill that would provide COVID-19 hazard pay to hospital-based health care workers. The first cutoff of session is next week on Feb. 3.
January 28, 2022
This week the House Labor Committee heard the safe staffing bill, HB 1868. Check out the WSNA members who testified in support of the bill.
January 21, 2022
WSNA nurses share firsthand accounts of understaffing from the front lines.
January 17, 2022
The public is becoming increasingly aware of a problem nurses have known about for a long time: the nurse staffing crisis that is dangerously depleting our hospitals. The COVID-19 pandemic has both highlighted and accentuated this crisis.
WSNA and the other two primary health care unions in Washington state call for a sustainable, accountable commitment to safe staffing in every department of every hospital in the state.
Mary Mahoney Professional Nurses Organization was established in 1949 to provide community services and education to student nurses.
This was a busy week of hearings on policy bills and WSNA was well represented with several members providing testimony on key bills. As a reminder, all hearings and meetings with legislators are taking place over Zoom and are being aired on TVW.
January 14, 2022
We call on employers to clarify their policies, and we call on the state to ensure workers cannot be forced to return while sick, or disciplined for refusing to work while symptomatic with COVID.
"We do not believe that NINR intended to exclude research on health care equity; the health equity lens appears to be defined broadly enough to include health care equity. However, because some definitions distinguish between health equity and health care equity, this should be clarified."
December 17, 2021
Today a coalition of healthcare workers launched the WA Safe + Healthy campaign calling on Washington legislators to pass safe staffing standards that protect healthcare workers from dangerously high patient loads.
December 13, 2021
On Dec. 13, join the launch of our statewide campaign to ensure that we can care for patients safely, retain qualified staff, recruit new people into our industry, and create sustainable and resilient healthcare systems for our communities.
December 8, 2021
Hundreds of nurses, patients and community leaders gathered outside St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma on Nov. 3 to demand the hospital improve conditions so nurses can provide safe, high-quality care to every patient.
November 3, 2021
