Wisconsin Needs Safe Staffing in Our Hospitals! Write Your Legislator to Take Action for Nurses, Patients, and Quality Care

February 2026

We're back in the fight for safe staffing! When this bill was first introduced in 2023, the legislature refused to even give it a hearing, ignoring the will of nurses, healthcare workers, and patients. That's why the Wisconsin Nurse Staffing and Patient Protection Act is back in 2026. Safe staffing saves lives. Please send a letter to your state legislators to demand they support this critical bill. Here's why it matters:

No matter where we live, we are all going to need healthcare at some point. And when we do, we deserve quality care from caregivers who have everything they need to do their job safely. In fact, that's what all nurses and healthcare workers want to do: care for their patients and themselves to the best of their abilities.

Unfortunately, it is becoming the norm in Wisconsin that nurses and healthcare workers are overworked and understaffed. This saves healthcare corporations a lot of money, but it puts us all at risk -- patients, healthcare workers -- everyone. For years, corporate healthcare has cut corners and staffed hospitals with fewer nurses and healthcare workers, demanding they simply do more with less. This puts these healthcare corporations' bottom-lines ahead of the frontline. The pandemic exposed this disaster, and it hasn't gotten better. Healthcare workers continue to leave the profession in droves, but it doesn't have to be this way. Safe staffing saves lives, and it might very well save our healthcare system from destruction at the hands of corporate greed.

This bill will:

• require hospitals to have enough nurses and other healthcare workers at all times, stabilizing the mass exodus of nurses and healthcare workers.
• eliminate the dangerous practice of mandatory overtime of registered nurses.
• guarantee frontline healthcare workers, not just RNs, have a say in how their hospitals are staffed.
• raise the standards in our hospitals, which will benefit us all.

The Wisconsin legislature needs to pass this law to support our nurses, healthcare workers, and the health and wellbeing of all Wisconsinites. Study after study demonstrates that when nurses have too many patients, those patients are at higher risk of mortality, infection, or falls. We all deserve better, and safe staffing will make it better.

Thank you for adding your voice.