CNA learned that the Assembly does not expect to refer A.B. 1900 to a hearing, halting its advancement in the 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 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’ only lifeline for care. Nurses remain relentless in their pursuit to guarantee health care as a human right in the state.

“We condemn this disgraceful move by the California State Assembly to stop CalCare from moving forward in the legislature,” said CNA Executive Director Puneet Maharaj. “Nurses 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’ ability to pay. 

“Any delay in CalCare directly impacts the health of Californians,” continued Maharaj. “We can'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.”

CalCare was reintroduced in the Assembly on Feb. 12, 2026. A recent poll conducted by David Binder Research found that nearly two-thirds of California voters want to see transformational changes, not minor reforms, to California’s broken health care system. Uncertainty and anxiety about health care costs have been rising – exacerbated by unprecedented trillion-dollar cuts at the federal level – with more than 40 percent of voters saying it’s become harder to afford health care in the past several years. The poll 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. 

California’s 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. More than 300 organizations 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’s Convention in February, several hundred people rallied for the passage of CalCare.  

Nurses are grateful to the 25 legislators who are joint authors or coauthors of CalCare. A.B. 1900’s joint authors are Assemblymembers Ash Kalra, Isaac Bryan, Alex Lee, Liz Ortega, and Chris Rogers. The bill’s 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 Renée 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. 

Nurses are calling on the California legislature to do the right thing and refer CalCare to committee before the deadline. 

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.