The Week Ahead
Federal court hearings begin to determine whether lethal injection violates the Eighth Amendment by causing inmates extreme pain. The case will focus on the qualifications of execution teams and the conditions under which they work. Doctors earlier this year cited ethical concerns when they refused to participate in executions.
Voting ends on a contract between Kaiser Permanente's Northern California nurses and the California Nurses Association. Under the proposed contract, nurses would receive incremental pay increases over the next five years, and union nurses who have worked at Kaiser facilities for 30 years or more would receive an additional 3% raise. The contract would apply to about 14,000 registered nurses and nurse practitioners at 70 Kaiser facilities.
Sept. 29 is the deadline to cast ballots in the election of a trustee to the CalPERS board. The board is considering strategies to lower health care costs for the pension system, which spends $5 billion annually on health care. A runoff election would be held in November if no candidate receives a majority of votes.
Corrective plans are due to the Department of Health Services from four organ transplant programs in the state that have been warned of deficiencies. The affected programs are the:
- University of Southern California University Hospital liver transplant program;
- University of California-Davis Medical Center's liver transplant program in Sacramento;
- California Pacific Medical Center heart transplant program in San Francisco; and
- Sutter Memorial Hospital heart transplant program in Sacramento.
The last day for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) to act on legislation approved in the current legislative session. Bills the governor has not signed or vetoed will become law without his signature.