Illinois is experiencing a shortage of registered nurses caused by insufficient staffing levels that exacerbate occupational hazards and make it difficult to retain nurses. To address these issues and improve patient care, Illinois lawmakers are considering whether to follow California’s lead and adopt safe patient limits, which would establish patient-to-nurse ratios in Illinois’ hospitals. While the Nurse Staffing by Patient Acuity Amendment to the Hospital Licensing Act requires Illinois’ hospitals to create a staffing plan based on the recommendation of one or more “nursing care committees,” only 29 percent of nurses in the state say that their hospital has a staffing committee. Of those, just 44 percent say that the recommendations determined by the committee are implemented in daily staffing decisions. Current law has not been effective at addressing the shortage of registered nurses.