Legislative
Update
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COPE legislative priorities for 2008:
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Paid
Family Leave - A873
Extends TDI to provide family leave benefits
for workers caring for sick family members, newborn and
newly adopted children. - Passed the ...
read
how your legislator voted
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Non-imposition
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prevents
the unilateral changing of terms and conditions by public
employers. This legislation affects HPAE public employees
whose employers may, after months of negotiations and
fact-finding, impose conditions and their final offer on
employees. This legislation restores a level playing field
to public employee bargaining.
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Staffing ratios -
A1531
Establishes minimum registered professional nurse staffing
standards for hospitals and ambulatory surgery facilities
and certain DHS facilities.
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On May 5th, Assemblyman
Conaway introduced a package of bills that would address
hospital accountability and transparency. The Assembly
Health and Senior Services Committee heard testimony
from Health Commissioner Heather Howard along with HPAE
and others in support of the proposed bills.
A2606 (Wagner/Conaway)
Requires training for all trustees of general hospitals
A2607 (Green/Conaway)
Requires each general hospital to annually conduct
public meetings for the community it serves.
A2608
(Conaway/Caputo) Authorizes enhanced DHSS
monitoring of hospital financial performance and
intervention in management of identified distressed
hospitals.
A2609 (Conaway)
Prohibits hospitals from charging certain uninsured
persons more than 10% greater than applicable Medicare
rate.
All bills were voted out of
committee except for A2608 which was held for further
review.
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Paid
Family Leave Passes the Assembly Appropriations
Committee!
Paid Family Leave Legislation
(A-873) passes the Assembly Appropriations Committee;
Goes to Full Assembly for vote.
New Jersey’s
working families won a victory today as A873 Paid Family
Leave passed the Assembly Appropriations committee by a
vote of 8 to 4.
Substituting
at today’s committee hearing: Assemblyman Albano for
Assemblyman Gusciora and Assemblyman Burzachelli for
Assemblyman Wiesinewski.
In response to
an opinion by the Attorney General’s Office that
validated concerns about potential lawsuits, A873 was
amended to include language that would protect small
business from a lawsuit without changing the intent of
the bill.
A873 was
merged with its’ senate counterpart S786 and will now go
to the full assembly for a vote on Thursday, March 13th.
If passed by the assembly, the amended bill will return
to the senate for a final vote!
Voting Yes –
Pou, Vainieri Huttle, Barnes, Conaway, Greenwald,
Albano, Ramos and Burzachelli.
Voting No –
Addiego, Doherty, Merkt and Thompson
Paid Family Leave Passes in
the Senate!!
Paid Family Leave Legislation (S-786) passes in the NJ
Senate by a vote of 22-16.
New Jersey’s
working families won a victory today as S786 Paid Family Leave
passed the full senate by a vote of 22-16.
S786 supports
working families when a serious illness or a family emergency
arises. Workers and their families will no longer be faced with
having to make a painful choice between caring for children,
parents, spouses and partners or showing up for work and earning
a day's pay.
Everyone
benefits when workers are able to balance job obligations and
family needs. Paid Family Leave gives workers financial security
by allowing them to take paid leave to deal
with a child's
illness or a parent's recovery from a stroke not only improves
outcomes for children and families, but also raises worker
morale and productivity.
The assembly
version of the bill A873 passed the Assembly Labor Committee and
may now go the Assembly Budget & Appropriations Committee for a
hearing.
Violence Prevention
in Health Care Facilities & Safe Patient Handling Act Become
Law!
On Thursday, January 4, 2008, Governor Corzine signed two very
important bills into law that will help protect healthcare
workers and their patients by making hospitals and nursing homes
safer places to work.
·
1761 the Violence Prevention in Health Care Facilities Act
incorporates OSHA guidelines and requires healthcare facilities
to establish violence prevention committees, with at least 50%
of the members being direct-care healthcare workers
·
S1758 the Safe Patient Handling Act requires that all healthcare
facilities adopt a safe patient handling program.
Congratulations to HPAE’s members who worked tirelessly for two
years and were instrumental in these health and safety bills
becoming law.
Read the press
release:
Healthcare Workplaces Gain Safety Measures
Cope Newsletter - April 2007
GARRETT VOTES AGAINST KATRINA VICTIMS…AGAIN
Healthcare
Worker 'Safety Day’ to Focus on High Injury Rates due to Unsafe
Patient Handling and Violence
On February 26, 2007
HPAE members provided hands on
demonstrations
for state legislators of patient handling equipment that would
reduce the rate of injury among nurses and healthcare workers.
Our members also lobbied for
support for two pieces of legislation aimed at reducing injury rates
due to unsafe patient handling and violence in healthcare
workplaces, S1758/A3028 and S1761/S3027.
Both bills have
passed the Senate and Assembly Health Committees, and have been
referred to the Assembly and Senate Appropriations Committees.
Committee on
Political Education (COPE)
For more
information about COPE call 201-262-5005 or click name to email
Jeanne Otersen
 HPAE
members formed a "Committee on Political Education"
to educate our elected officials about what is really going on
in the health care system - and to fight for change. COPE organizes
grass-roots mobilization efforts to win important legislation - and
tracks the voting records of our state and federal legislators on
HPAE issues. Using this
information, COPE also interviews and screens candidates for office,
making recommendations to HPAE members.
Through
COPE, HPAE members have been instrumental in the drafting of new
legislation, in providing testimony before legislators and
government officials, and in organizing letter-writing efforts to
persuade elected officials to support HPAE legislation.
To
find out more information about HPAE's COPE program or to join,
please contact HPAE Public Policy Director Jeanne Otersen at
1-800-801-5005, or at jotersen@hpae.org.
HPAE
members know that some issues demand that we wage the fight
for quality patient care on all levels - not just by the bedside or
in our collective bargaining agreements, but also in the halls
of state legislatures and in Congress. By
mobilizing our members - and working in coalition with community
groups - HPAE has challenged special interests and won.
Our efforts have resulted in the passage of precedent-setting
legislation, which protects our patients and our professions. That
legislation includes:
FPublic
Disclosure -
Governor Codey signed bill 1/24/05
-
mandating
hospitals and nursing homes provide certain staffing
and patient care information to the public.
F
Mandatory
Overtime-
HPAE
WINS BAN ON MANDATORY OVERTIME!
Governor signs bill to protect NJ health care workers. Click
above for details
F
The
'Baby Bill',
 which forced insurance
companies to extend the hospital length-of-stay for new mothers and
infants
to 48 hours for regular delivery; 72 hours for C-section.
This bill was among the first in the nation.
F
'Whistleblower
Protection' for
health care workers - the first in the nation to extend
whistleblower coverage to health care professionals who report or
refuse to engage in a practice they consider to be unsafe for their
patients. (link to
statute)
 F
The
Health Care Quality Act, protecting
our patients from abuses of managed care, and guaranteeing patient
rights. For more information on patients rights under NJ laws click:
Laws
F
'Needle-Safety', which mandates the use of safety needle
systems in all hospitals and nursing homes by January 4, 2001. (For
more information on needle safety, and/or info on safe needle
systems) - click Safe
Needles
HPAE
also works through our national organization, AFT, on federal
legislation - supporting the real Patient Bill of Rights, the
federal Needle-Safety. |
