BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2155
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2155 (Ridley-Thomas)
As Amended August 19, 2014
Majority
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|ASSEMBLY: |53-24|(May 28, 2014) |SENATE: |25-10|(August 21, |
| | | | | |2014) |
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Original Committee Reference: L. & E.
SUMMARY : Prohibits, beginning January 1, 2016, mandatory
overtime for registered nurses, licensed vocational nurses
(LVNs), or certified nursing assistants (CNAs) who are employed
in state hospitals and facilities. Specifically, this bill :
1)Defines a "nurse" as all classifications of registered nurses
represented by State Bargaining Unit (BU) 17, or the LVN
classifications represented by BU 20.
2)Defines a "certified nursing assistant" as all CNA
classifications represented by BU 20.
3)Defines "on call or standby" to mean alternative staff who are
not currently working on the premises of the facility and who
satisfy certain criteria, as specified.
4)Defines a "facility" as a facility providing clinically
related health services that is operated by specified state
departments in which a nurse or CNA works as an employee of
the state.
5)Defines "emergency situation" as an unforeseeable declared
national, state, or municipal emergency or a highly unusual
event that is unpredictable or unavoidable that affects the
health care services, as specified.
6)Prohibits a facility from requiring a nurse or CNA to work in
excess of a regularly scheduled workweek or work shift, except
as provided.
7)Authorizes a nurse or CNA to volunteer to work extra hours,
but the refusal by a nurse or CNA to work such hours shall not
be grounds for discrimination, dismissal, discharge or other
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penalty or patient abandonment or neglect, as specified.
8)Requires management and supervisors, in order to avoid the use
of mandatory overtime, to consider employees to fulfill the
additional staffing needs in a specified order of priority.
9)Provides that the overtime prohibition does not apply in the
following situations:
a) To any nurse or CNA participating in a surgical
procedure, as specified;
b) If a catastrophic event occurs in a facility where both
of the following apply:
i) The catastrophic event results in such a large
number of patients in need of immediate medical treatment
that the facility is incapable of providing sufficient
nurses or CNAs to attend to the patients without
resorting to mandatory overtime; and,
ii) The catastrophic event is an unanticipated and
nonrecurring event.
c) If an emergency situation occurs.
10)Specifies that nothing in these provisions shall be construed
to do any of the following:
a) Affect the Nursing Practice Act, the Vocational Nursing
Practice Act, or a registered nurse's duty under the
standards of competent performance.
b) Prevent the hiring of part-time or intermittent
employees.
c) Prevent a facility from providing more protections
against mandatory overtime than the minimum protections
established by this bill.
The Senate amendments add legislative intent language; define
and clarify various terms for purposes of the bill; establish a
priority order for the scheduling of nurses; delay the effective
date of bill's provisions until January 1, 2016; and, make other
technical and clarifying changes.
AB 2155
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EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes, as the general policy of the state, the workweek
of state employees to be 40 hours, and the workday of state
employees eight hours, except that workweeks and workdays of a
different number of hours may be established in order to meet
the varying needs of the different state agencies.
2)States that it is the policy of the state to avoid the
necessity for overtime work whenever possible. This policy
does not restrict the extension of regular working-hour
schedules on an overtime basis in those activities and
agencies where it is necessary to carry on the state business
properly during a manpower shortage.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee:
1)Net costs of approximately $1.2 million annually to the
Department of State Hospitals (General Fund). Unknown
staffing costs annually to the Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation and Department of Veteran Affairs (General
Fund).
2)During 2013, the Department of State Hospitals mandated a
total of 53,973 overtime hours for registered nurses and
licensed vocational nurses. The total cost of this overtime
pay calculated at the mid-step was $2.33 million. It is
estimated that an additional 23.5 nurses and 3.9 LVN's would
need to be hired if mandatory overtime was eliminated at an
estimated cost of $3.5 million. The actual cost would likely
be less since presumably some nurses would voluntarily accept
to work the overtime hours.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Mandatory overtime is the
practice of hospitals and health care institutions to maintain
adequate numbers of staff nurses through forced overtime,
usually with a total of 12 to 16 hours worked, and with as
little as one hour's notice. This bill seeks to ban mandatory
overtime for public sector RNs, LVNs, and CNAs. The use of
mandatory overtime for nurses in the private sector has been
banned since 2001 through wage orders from the Industrial
Welfare Commission. State and public sector nurses were
exempted from this order".
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"Mandatory overtime may cause or lead to increased stress on the
job, less patient comfort and mental and physical fatigue that
can contribute to errors and 'near-misses' with medications and
case-related procedures. The practice of mandatory overtime
ignores the responsibilities nurses may have at home with
children, other family members, or other obligations. Being
forced into excessive overtime can cause an exhausted RN to
practice unsafe patient care, jeopardizing her nursing licensure
status."
According to information provided by the author, the states of
West Virginia, Illinois, Connecticut, Washington, Oregon, New
Jersey, Minnesota, Maine, Maryland, Alaska and Massachusetts all
have laws prohibiting the use of mandatory overtime as a general
staffing tool.
The author concludes, "AB 2155 is needed to promote an optimum
quality of patient care, decrease potential workplace or health
and safety errors; and increase the ability of the state in its
recruitment and retention of nurses."
This bill is similar to AB 1184 (Koretz) of 2005, which was
vetoed by the Governor. In his veto message, Governor
Schwarzenegger stated, in part:
California is facing a nursing shortage and there are
not enough nurses and certified nursing assistants to
provide coverage in State hospitals and health care
facilities. Because the State has difficulty
recruiting a sufficient number of these dedicated
professionals for its hospitals and other health care
facilities, the State relies on mandatory overtime
staff to meet minimum level-of-care staffing
requirements. My administration has made the training
and recruitment of new nursing professionals a high
priority, with the added goal of filling vacant
nursing positions and reducing the resulting overtime
throughout state service.
Additionally, the Ralph C. Dills Act requires that the
state employer and the exclusive representative of
rank-and-file state employees meet and confer in good
faith over employee wages, hours of work, and terms
and conditions of employment. This bill would
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unilaterally establish provisions governing hours of
work for represented health care employees, thereby
circumventing the collective bargaining process and
the good faith collective bargaining agreements
negotiated between the parties. If the State is to
have good faith collective bargaining, then wages,
hours and terms and conditions of employment must
remain subject to negotiation.
There is no registered opposition to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Karon Green / P.E., R. & S.S. / (916)
319-3957
FN: 0005010