WHEREAS, The 293,537 registered nurses and 94,784 licensed vocational nurses in California compose the state’s largest licensed health care profession; and

WHEREAS, Professional nurses provide compassionate, culturally appropriate, and comprehensive health care to a growing, diverse population; and

WHEREAS, The depth and breadth of the nursing profession meets a broad spectrum of the health care needs of Californians in a variety of settings; and

WHEREAS, A renewed emphasis on preventive health care and the early detection of disease requires improved use of the state’s nursing resources; and

WHEREAS, Professional nursing is an indispensable component of the safety and quality of patient care in every health care setting for every age group; and

WHEREAS, The need for registered nursing services will be greater than ever due to the use of increasingly complex, life-sustaining technologies, the expanded leadership and practice roles of registered nurses in various places of service, and the critical role of registered nurses in responding to mass casualty management; and

WHEREAS, The provision of cost-effective health care services by registered and licensed vocational nurses will be an important component of the California health care delivery system in years to come; and

WHEREAS, Recognizing that licensed nurses are the cornerstone of the health care workforce, California is the first state in the nation to propose nurse-to-patient ratios for acute care hospitals; and

WHEREAS, A far greater number of licensed nurses are needed to meet the present and future demand, and Governor Gray Davis has launched a $60 million Nurse Workforce Initiative to address the growing nursing shortage in California; and

WHEREAS, Nurses working in all sectors of health care celebrate May 6 to May 12 as National Nurses Week, a time to recognize that nurses provide high-quality patient care services throughout California; now, therefore, be it