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S 5319 119th Congress

Nurse Overtime and Patient Safety Act

A bill 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.

Official Title as Introduced Congress.gov

Introduced Aug 6, 2026 Latest action Aug 6, 2026 Sponsor: Sen. Merkley, Jeff [D-OR] Health
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Source: Congress.govUpdated 2026-09-14 01:07:03 UTC.

Source-linked procedural record

Bill journey

4 dated records

This is a chronology, not a progress score. Politically.com does not classify stages or infer what comes next. Records sharing a date are grouped because not every source field supplies a time.

Congress.gov Recently refreshed U.S. Senate XML Recently refreshed
Introduction 1 One supplied introduction date.
Official actions 2 2 dated action records.
Committees 1 1 undated relationship.
Amendments 0 No record is cached.
Text versions 1 1 dated, 0 without a supplied date.
House roll calls 0 No exact legislation-key match in the House-vote cache.
Senate roll calls 0 No exact document-key match in the Senate-vote cache.
Related measures 1 1 undated relationship.
Linked law 0 No linked law record is cached; this does not predict outcome.
  1. Official action Congress.gov

    Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

    IntroReferral · Senate

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    Official action Congress.gov

    Introduced in Senate

    IntroReferral · Library of Congress · Code 10000

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    Text version Congress.gov

    Introduced in Senate

    A dated text-version record is available.

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Every dated cached record linked to S 5319. Same-date row order does not assert procedural sequence.
Date and timeRecordOfficial detailSource
IntroductionIntroduced Introduced in the Senate. Congress.gov
Official actionRead twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · Senate Congress.gov
Official actionIntroduced in Senate No additional detail supplied.IntroReferral · Library of Congress · Code 10000 Congress.gov
Text versionIntroduced in Senate A dated text-version record is available. Congress.gov

House roll calls join only on matching Congress, legislation type, and number. Senate roll calls join only on matching source-supplied document type and number, not question text. Committee and related-measure relationships have no date in their relationship records and therefore are counted above but never placed on the chronology.

Congressional Research Service

CRS summary

Introduced in Senate Aug 6, 2026

Nurse Overtime and Patient Safety Act This bill requires certain providers, as a condition of Medicare participation, to limit mandatory overtime for nurses. Specifically, the bill prohibits hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, home health agencies, rural health clinics, federally qualified health centers, and other specified providers from requiring nurses to work (1) more than a previously scheduled shift, 48 hours in a workweek, or 12 consecutive hours in a 24-hour period; or (2) during the 10 hours immediately following the 12th hour worked in a shift during a 24-hour period. Qualifying work hours include time spent in training, on call, and on standby. The bill's provisions do not apply during declared emergencies or disasters, subject to specified conditions, and do not preclude voluntary overtime. The bill also establishes (1) certain protections for nurses who file complaints against providers, (2) documentation and notice requirements for providers, and (3) potential civil penalties for violations.

Official documents

Text versions