If you don’t know how California got nurse-to-patient ratios, this is the story. In the 1990s, nurses were taking care of 10, 12, even 13 patients at once. Studies showed patient deaths went up as assignments went up. The California Nurses Association started collecting real data. Real nurse stories. Real patient harm. They made it clear this wasn’t a work issue. It was a public safety issue. In 1999, nurses pushed Assembly Bill 394. Hospitals fought it. Nurses showed up anyway. They reframed th