The California Department of Public Health (CDPH) issued draft emergency regulations to adopt staffing standards for acute psychiatric hospitals, pursuant to Health and Safety Code section 1276.4, as amended by AB 116 (Stats. 2025, ch. 21, sec. 2). The regulations in part include minimum nurse-to-patient staffing ratios for acute psychiatric hospitals that would be effective January 31, 2026. The draft regulations were issued for public comment on December 22, 2025 through All Facility Letter 25-37, with a public hearing on December 29. Some stakeholders raised concerns that adopting nurse staffing ratios with such a short effective date may result in bed closures while acute psychiatric hospitals work to hire and train additional nursing staff, urging the department to delay the effective date of the new standards. CDPH however, has indicated that, while it “will accept feedback on the draft regulations, … it will not be reflected in the official release of the emergency regulations but will be considered during the subsequent regular rulemaking process.”

In directing CDPH to adopt staffing standards through emergency regulations, AB 116 also exempted the regulations from both review by the Office of Administrative Law and compliance with certain requirements under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) for emergency regulations, allowing CDPH to issue and adopt these standards with immediate effect without the usual APA guardrails for emergency rulemaking. The initial adoption of the emergency regulations will be effective for 180 days. The statute also authorizes CDPH to readopt the emergency regulations for two 180-day periods (compared to 90 days under the APA).