{"id":47780,"date":"2026-04-18T12:30:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:30:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=47780"},"modified":"2026-04-18T12:30:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T19:30:49","slug":"nurses-urge-california-assembly-to-advance-calcare","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/04\/18\/nurses-urge-california-assembly-to-advance-calcare\/","title":{"rendered":"Nurses urge California Assembly to advance CalCare"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>California Nurses Association<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>April 17, 2026 (nationalnursesunited.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nationalnursesunited.org\/sites\/default\/files\/2026-04\/0426_CalCare_RallyWithBanner_Hero.jpg\" alt=\"Large group of people outisde, holding CalCare signs and banner\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>CNA learned that the Assembly does not expect to refer A.B. 1900 to a hearing, halting its advancement in the&nbsp;legislature<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>California Nurses Association (CNA) members urge the California State Assembly to advance A.B. 1900, the California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act, also known as CalCare, at a time when health care is needed more urgently than ever before. The failure to advance A.B. 1900 shows a lack of leadership and a capitulation to corporate health care interests. CalCare is a comprehensive, high-quality single-payer program that would be many Californians\u2019 only lifeline for care. Nurses remain relentless in their pursuit to guarantee health care as a human right in the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe condemn this disgraceful move by the California State Assembly to stop CalCare from moving forward in the legislature,\u201d said&nbsp;<strong>CNA Executive Director Puneet Maharaj.<\/strong>&nbsp;\u201cNurses know that Californians desperately need guaranteed health care. We have fought for decades to ensure that health care is a human right, regardless of patients\u2019 ability to pay.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cAny delay in CalCare directly impacts the health of Californians,\u201d continued&nbsp;<strong>Maharaj<\/strong>. \u201cWe can&#8217;t wait for the disastrous impacts of H.R. 1 or for more people to die. NOW is the time to pass CalCare. Our legislators still have time to do the right thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CalCare was&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalnursesunited.org\/press\/assemblymember-ash-kalra-california-nurses-association-reintroduce-calcare-legislation\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>reintroduced<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;in the Assembly on Feb. 12, 2026.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalnursesunited.org\/sites\/default\/files\/nnu\/documents\/CalCare_Poll_Brief_2026.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>A recent poll conducted by David Binder Research<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;found that nearly two-thirds of California voters want to see transformational changes, not minor reforms, to California\u2019s broken health care system. Uncertainty and anxiety about health care costs have been rising \u2013 exacerbated by unprecedented trillion-dollar cuts at the federal level \u2013 with more than 40 percent of voters saying it\u2019s become harder to afford health care in the past several years. The&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalnursesunited.org\/sites\/default\/files\/nnu\/documents\/CalCare_Poll_Brief_2026.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>poll<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;also shows that more than three-quarters of Democrats are more likely to support a candidate for governor if they were to run on creating a single-payer system.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>California\u2019s union nurses, represented by CNA, are committed to continuing to lead the organizing to build the grassroots movement necessary to win support for and pass CalCare.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalnursesunited.org\/calcare#endorsements\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><u>More than 300 organizations<\/u><\/a>&nbsp;have endorsed CalCare, including the California Federation of Labor Unions, ACLU California Action, California Faculty Association, California Federation of Teachers, California School Employees Association, California Teachers Association,, California Working Families Party, The Arc of California, University Professional and Technical Employees, and United Auto Workers (Region 6). Hundreds of patients and community activists have already filled four town halls earlier this year to learn about CalCare. Supporters have held drop-in actions at nearly 100 district offices in support of CalCare and dialed some 20,000 Californians to drive more than 750 calls to the Capitol. At the California Democratic Party\u2019s Convention in February, several hundred people rallied for the passage of CalCare.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nurses are grateful to the 25 legislators who are joint authors or coauthors of CalCare. A.B. 1900\u2019s joint authors are Assemblymembers Ash Kalra, Isaac Bryan, Alex Lee, Liz Ortega, and Chris Rogers. The bill\u2019s principal coauthors are Assemblymembers Damon Connolly, Sade Elhawary, and Nick Schultz and Senator Lena Gonzalez and Senate Pro Tem Emeritus Mike McGuire. The coauthors include Assemblymembers Dawn Addis, Robert Garcia, Matt Haney, John Harabedian, Corey Jackson, Tina McKinnor, Celeste Rodriguez, LaShae Sharp-Collins, and Rick Chavez Zbur and Senators Josh Becker, Dave Cortese, John Laird, Sasha Ren\u00e9e Perez, Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, and Scott Wiener. Nurses are also deeply appreciative of the ongoing efforts of Assemblymember Mia Bonta, Chair of the Assembly Health Committee, to pass CalCare.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nurses are calling on the California legislature to do the right thing and refer CalCare to committee before the deadline.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><em>California Nurses Association\/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with more than 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and more than 225,000 RNs nationwide.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>California Nurses Association April 17, 2026 (nationalnursesunited.org) CNA learned that the Assembly does not expect to refer A.B. 1900 to a hearing, halting its advancement in the&nbsp;legislature California Nurses Association (CNA) members urge the California State Assembly to advance A.B. 1900, the California Guaranteed Health Care for All Act, also&#8230; <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/04\/18\/nurses-urge-california-assembly-to-advance-calcare\/\"> Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr; <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47780"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47781,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47780\/revisions\/47781"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}