ANA\C The Nursing Voice Spring 2019

anacalifornia.org  .  9 be heard when they return for the second year of the session on January 6, 2020. Who’s going to decide their fate? The Democratic Party currently holds super-majorities in both houses of the California State Legislature. The Assembly consists of 61 Democrats and 19 Republicans, while the Senate is composed of 28 Democrats and 10 Republicans, with two vacancies. Except for a brief period from 1995 to 1996, the Assembly has been in Democratic hands since the 1970 election. The Senate, meanwhile, has been under continuous Democratic control since 1970. Also, every single California constitutional office is currently held by a Democrat. This isn’t good, or bad news. All we can hope for is that since Democrats can’t look to Republican’s to stop ideas that might not be ready for prime time, that their own internal “governors” kick in and that only those bills that are well thought out and analyzed make it to Governor Newsom. A gal’s gotta have a dream. Legislative Report April 2019 We have just kicked off the first year of a two-year legislative session and the Legislature has hit the ground running! More than 2,700 bills have been introduced since they kicked off the session in January with bills being introduced ranging from privacy, taxing sugary drinks, deciding who can perform a phlebotomy as well as clarifying what is considered assault and battery in a hospital environment. In many cases, it isn’t clear who actually wrote the bills. California allows lobbyists to write a proposed law from start to finish and then have a legislator introduce it. This is officially called a “sponsored bill,” but there often is little consistency to knowing who the real source is behind it. The bills are vetted, amended and put into language that fits with the code section(s) being amended by a group of government attorneys in an office known as Legislative Counsel. Even if a special interest group proposes bill language, “good” ideas shouldn’t be dismissed simply because they came from interest groups outside of the Legislative body. Virtually every interest group has representation in the Capitol, and in most cases, they are the most familiar with the nuances of their particular area of interest. Who better to provide input and/or suggest language They’re Ba-ack! Where DO all of those bill ideas come from? for a bill that impacts them specifically? Particularly when we are presented with a Capitol with so many brand-new Legislators who will be faced with voting on every single bill, all 2500+ of them! We wouldn’t want a group with expertise in the entertainment industry attempt to pass a law regulating nurses without our input, would we? Rhetorical question! What’s next? Now that the bills have been introduced the rush is on to get the bills heard in the legislative policy committee appropriate for the subject matter of each bill. Over the next nearly two months, bill hearings will begin and the fate of each will become clearer, in addition to who is behind them. Regardless of who writes them, the bills keep coming, up to 40 proposals for each Senator and 50 for each Assembly member during the two-year session. It is obviously not clear yet where the dust is going to settle on any of these measures and each bill may be amended as many times as an author chooses. This can happen all the way up to the end of the session in September, and all measures that make it out of their “house of origin” (house they were introduced in i.e. Assembly or Senate) qualify to continue to Roxanne Gould Gould Government Relations Reports Contact Roxanne— gouldgr.com (916) 715-0900 Communication & Engagement Report By Derrick Hernandez—Communications and Engagement Coordinator I’m excited to be joining the ANA\C team as the new Communications and Engagement Coordinator. Throughout my nursing journey, I’m blessed to be mentored by Dr. Alice Martanegara, California State Director of Nursing for Western Governors University. I’m excited and truly blessed for the opportunity to serve my professional association, ANA\C. I’m amazed at the incredible work you all do for this organization. My goal is to support and elevate member engagement through my technical experience in communication and social media. I look forward to learning on how I can support your engagement with ANA\C.