2008 Legislative Report: Progress for Patients & Caregivers
Our hard work in the 2008 Legislative session paid off – our emails, phone calls, visits and targeted coalition work resulted in key victories for our members, patients and communities.
Career Advancement Funds
$1.5 million in Health Career Advancement funds will help experienced workers who are committed to the delivery of quality healthcare services to have the opportunity to advance their careers and fill critical staff shortages.
“We work with some of the most caring, dedicated people around. These funds will help our co-workers advance their careers, fill staff shortages, and continue making a difference for the patients we see.”
Lupe White, Medical Assistant, Swedish Family Medical Clinic
Safe Staffing for our PatientsWe won safe staffing legislation which ensures:
- Labor management nurse staffing committees in each hospital to develop, oversee and evaluate a nurse staffing plan.
- If staffing plan is not accepted, the hospital CEO must provide a written explanation.
- Staffing plan and actual staffing posted publicly on each unit.
“We’ve taken the first step on Safe Staffing – our Nurse Staffing bill became law, and we’re going to keep moving forward with our 2008 bargain. We deserve safe staffing, and so do the patients who trust us with their care.”
Bev Barker, RN,
Swedish Medical Center
Healthcare Reform for Washington
Insurance Protection (ESB 5261).
This law will restore the authority of the Insurance Commissioner to regulate the rate setting of premiums in the individual market against huge rate increases by insurance companies who make huge profits.
Healthcare for Washington (ESB 6333)The Citizens Working Group will gather public input on healthcare reform and evaluate different reform plans. The results of this work could be used to create a plan to provide affordable universal coverage for Washington residents.
“We’ve made some progress, but our political leaders need to stand with us on these issues. We’re counting on our next President to make healthcare reform a national priority.”
Sharon Kile, Radiology,
Empire Health Services
Working Together with Community Partners
Through our work with coalition partners we’ve made progress for workers, families, and communities:
Affordable Housing -$70 million has been put into the Housing Trust Fund, which will support the development of affordable housing, and housing for the homeless.
“We won significant funding for affordable housing as a result of coordinating our efforts and message with so many other housing advocacy groups. I hope we will be able to house a large number of clients with these new funds.”
Kurt Ofsthus, Treatment Coordinator, West Seattle Psychiatric Hospital
Tax Fairness for Working Families–The Working Families Credit will offer significant tax rebates to low-wage working families in Washington State, and is the biggest improvement in our tax structure since the removal of sales tax on food 30 years ago.
Did you know?
We emailed our legislators 1,913 times
Called our legislators more than 600 times
And sent almost 200 members to visit our legislators in Olympia