The Nurse Overtime and Patient Safety Act would establish commonsense protections nationwide so nurses can provide the highest quality care without being pushed beyond safe limits.
Establish federal workplace safeguards for nurses by limiting mandatory overtime, protecting nurses from retaliation, and imposing civil penalties for violations.
Occurrences
Ms. Matsui (for herself and Mrs. Kiggans of Virginia) introduced the following bill... Full Title: To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for patient protection by limiting the number of mandatory overtime hours a nurse may be required to work in certain providers of services to which payments are made under the Medicare Program.
Evidence
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GovInfo lists H.R. 10056 as introduced by Ms. Matsui on August 6, 2026 and referred to the House Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means Committees. The bill version is Introduced in House.
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The bill would prohibit providers from requiring nurses to work beyond scheduled shifts, 48 hours in a workweek, or 12 consecutive hours in 24 hours; it includes whistleblower and nondiscrimination protections and authorizes civil money penalties up to $10,000 for each knowing violation.
Assessments
Matsui introduced H.R. 10056, the Nurse Overtime and Patient Safety Act of 2026, on August 6, 2026. The introduced bill directly matches the promise by limiting mandatory nurse overtime, adding retaliation protections, and authorizing civil penalties. However, the official status is still introduced/referred to committee, with no enacted federal workplace safeguards. Because she made a serious legislative attempt but the promised federal safeguards have not been established, this is not delivered.