Calif. Nurses Seek Tighter Rules on Hospitals’ Tax Breaks

Marching on the state capitol last week in support of their union’s agenda, California nurses renewed a call for tougher reporting requirements on nonprofit medical centers’ community benefits, writes The Sacramento Bee. The California Nurses Association contends the state’s approximately 200 nonprofit hospitals are not putting enough into charity care and other assistance to justify their tax exemptions.

The march also aimed to draw attention to the state Senate’s rejection late last month of a bill that would have tightened California’s definition of what constitutes community benefit and mandated greater input from community groups on hospital giving plans. The measure, which has failed twice before, fell a vote short of passage by the Senate Health Committee. A 2014 study commissioned by the California Hospital Association said its members provide $5 billion in annual societal benefits, three times an estimate by the nurses’ union.