OAKLAND, Calif., Feb. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The California Nurses Association today said the apparent decision by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to abandon his proposal to abolish the independent Board of Registered Nursing, along with other important boards and commissions, is a testimony to the widespread opposition led by registered nurses. But CNA said many significant battles remain with a governor who is threatening a broad swatch of public protections and wants to carry his campaign efforts national.
Gov. Schwarzenegger will reportedly send a letter today to the state’s Little Hoover Commission withdrawing his plan to eliminate 88 regulatory and policy boards, including the BRN, according to the Sacramento Bee and other sources.
CNA has been the most outspoken critic of the proposal with thousands of RNs participating in public protests and writing letters in opposition. The independent oversight board guarantees uniform nursing care and nursing education safety standards for California patients. The board is also self- funded through RN licensing fees.
“Due to the outrage by RNs and the groundswell of opposition, this proposal, which had to be ratified by legislature, was dead on arrival,” said CNA Executive Director Rose Ann DeMoro.
CNA had also been among the foremost critics in noting the disparity between the governor’s proposal to eliminate critical public oversight boards, like the BRN, while protecting those favored by his friends and corporate donors, such as the film commission. That was one reason CNA sponsored a protest this week outside a movie premiere attended by Schwarzenegger in Sacramento.
“Schwarzenegger’s clumsy and transparent attempt to abolish boards that protect the public indicates that we have a trainee running the fifth largest economy in the world,” said DeMoro.
“The BRN proposal was so extreme,” DeMoro said, “that even many large hospital systems opposed it, prodding even the conservative hospital industry lobbying arm, one of his most fervent allies, to disagree with the governor.”
But, even while withdrawing the proposal for now, noted DeMoro, it’s clear the governor hopes to revive the plan, and its underlying goal -- usurping the role of the legislature and placing more power in the hands of the governor and his administration, as was the intent of the bid to abolish the boards and commissions.
“This governor has visions of autocratic power that run roughshod over the legislative role and public oversight, regulatory protections that patients, consumers and the public have counted on for decades,” said DeMoro. Other examples include:
-- A supposed “non-partisan” re-districting proposal that is actually intended to reduce his opposition in the state legislature and assist efforts nationally to redesign California’s Congressional delegation to cement a long term conservative majority in Congress. -- The illegal use of emergency orders in California to subvert the role of the legislature to enact laws.
A major example was an emergency order by the governor in November to roll back patient safety standards in California hospitals, reversing the intent of a 1999 law. A CNA lawsuit challenging that order will be heard in Sacramento Superior Court March 4.
-- Non-stop corporate fundraising to collect money for initiatives intended to avoid legislative scrutiny and debate on major public policy issues, such as the governor’s latest effort to privatize pensions for public employees.
Gov. Schwarzenegger raised $26.6 million in his first year, and plans to collect over $50 million this year from corporate donors, more than any governor in state history, to pursue this agenda. He is also raising money nationally as he seeks to transplant this issue and his profile on a national scale.
CNA has also challenged the governor nationally with ads this week in the New York Times and Roll Call noting how “as soon as he got to Sacramento, the Governor put vital health policy up for sale. Generous corporations are cashing in big time.”
“With his power grab, and his efforts on behalf of his corporate donors to reduce public protections and oversight, this governor increasingly puts patients, consumers, and working people at risk,” said DeMoro. “It’s time to look past the silver screen image and lift the curtain to see who Arnold Schwarzenegger really is.”
In addition to his corporate fundraising and a record that includes initiatives and vetoes of patient and consumer oriented bills, another clue is the governor’s economic advisory board, said DeMoro. It includes such arch conservatives as Milton Friedman, Martin Anderson, Arthur Laffer and other economists who have well known records in Washington and internationally advocating for policies in the U.S. and other nations intended to reduce public programs and protections.
California Nurses Association
CONTACT: Charles Idelson, +1-510-273-2246 or +1-415-559-8991 (cell), forCalifornia Nurses Association
Web site: http://www.calnurse.org/