But that doesn't mean we won't be monitoring the latest updates. In fact, this week was a big week for change. The BRN has a new member, legislation priorities had movement early this morning, and we uncovered some interesting astounding data regarding California's mask supply.

Break out the champagne!... We welcome Dr. Mary Fagan PhD, RN, NEA-BC, to the California Board of Registered Nursing (BRN). Dr. Fagan was appointed by Governor Newsom this week. She is a member of ANA, ANA\California, ACNL, and AONL.

40+ years experience... Dr. Fagan has wide breadth of nursing experience. She has been the Vice President of Patient Care Services and CNO at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego since 2010, where she has held several positions since 1987, including director of quality management, senior managing director of clinical initiatives and director of critical care services. Fagan earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in nursing from the University of San Diego and a Master of Science degree in nursing from Yale University.

She also co-authored Integrating Team Training in the Pediatric Life Support Program: An Effective and Efficient Approach?

AB 890 (Wood) passed the Senate Appropriations Committee* with an amendment today, with a 7-0 vote and heads to the Senate Floor.

SB 1237 (Dodd) was heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee* and is in the suspense file with a "hearing" today, August 20th. Detailed description of SB 1237 (Dodd) here.

Update 11:06 AM, August 20th - Oddly, Assemblymember Gonzalez incorrectly described what SB 1237 relates to, but the bill was voted out of the committee and will advance to the Assembly Floor. Interestingly, the Appropriations Committee chair announced an abrupt recess immediately following the vote. Stay tuned...

AB 2288 (Low) was heard in the Senate Appropriations Committee* and is also in the suspense file with a "hearing" today, August 20th. Detailed description of AB 2288 (Low) here.

Update 12:03 PM, August 20th - The Senate Appropriations Committee voted 7-0 to advance the bill to the Senate Floor.

SB 1159 (Hill) was heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee* and is also in the suspense file with a "hearing" today, August 20th.

Update 11:26 AM, August 20th - This bill, relating to a workers comp presumption for critical care workers, passed out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee suspense file and heads to the Assembly Floor.

*A lesson in "Political Will": Assembly Member Lorena Gonzalez has a dominant voice as the Chair of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, while the Senate Appropriations Committee is handled more democratically.

There is a blind spot... somewhere between California's PPE procurement and the nurses and healthcare workers receiving the PPE on the frontlines.

We investigated this topic back on June 30th, which showed the latest procurement data for N-95 respirators to the healthcare sector at 58.8M, according to the Official California State Government Website (covid19.ca.gov). Today, that number is 100.9M N-95 respirators delivered to the healthcare sector throughout California.

Here's where it gets interesting... According to California's Open Data Website (data.ca.gov), the number of N-95 respirators distributed to California counties is actually much higher. Let us rephrase that, much, MUCH, MUCH HIGHER.

California's Open Data COVID-19 PPE Logistics file logs "quantity_filled" to a total of 3,772,117,676 N-95 respirators...* yes b-b-b-billions... delivered throughout California between June 8th - August 11th. This doesn't include masks sent to unspecified State or Non Governmental Agencies.

Click here to download the full COVID-19 PPE Logistics file.** You can then filter by "N-95 Respirators", "Surgical Masks", "Cloth Masks" and other PPE products, as well as by County, Zip Code, and Date.*

**Download as a CSV file and be sure to have your Excel skills ready.

So, where are these masks? Not all went to the medical sector, of course. To give you an idea of how things get broken down, on July 22nd Governor Newsom announced that 48.5M of a total 200M surgical masks were sent to nursing and senior care, and non-emergency medical workers.

It is perplexing to say the least. Especially when ANA's PPE Survey (May 2020) showed...

We continue seek answers and updates regarding your PPE concerns and questions. Please don't hesitate to reach out to give us stories unique to your care facility - your confidentiality matters to us.

We enhance the health and well-being of Californians and advance the profession of nursing by advocating for legislation, regulation, and policies. We focus on improving quality care, quality experiences, quality nurses, and the quality of our profession. We're the ANA\California Team and we're here for you. How can we help?

Thousands of nurses have participated in our advocacy campaigns and we thank you for your support! For those of you who want to advocate on critical campaigns, we've made digital advocacy as easy as 1-2-3.

1. Text "ANACNURSES" to 52886

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