On February 12, 2026, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced the Nurses Belong in Nursing Homes Act (S. 3886). Senators Andy Kim (D-NJ), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Ben Ray Lujan (D-NM), Christopher Murphy (D-CT), and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) co-sponsored the bill, which would establish minimum staffing standards for nursing homes.

Similar to the now-repealed Minimum Staffing Standards for Long-Term Care Facilities rule, this bill would require 3.48 hours per resident, per day (HPRD) of total nurse staffing and twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week of registered nurse (RN) staffing. The bill would be effective within 180 days of enactment. Nursing homes would be required to continue providing the currently required eight hours per day / seven days per week of RN staffing until the bill becomes effective.

The bill would require a study analyzing the sufficiency of staffing not later than two years after enactment, with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary required to report to Congress within 180 days of receiving the results of the study. The report would include recommendations on whether staffing standards should be maintained or increased, and whether standards should be expanded to include other staffing types. The bill states explicitly that staffing standards should never be decreased below the floor established by the bill. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) would be required to implement regulations not later than one year after the initial report to Congress. The bill would require these staffing studies to be repeated every four years, with regulations being updated within one year of reports as needed.

It is important to note that the requirements of this bill would not be subject to any of the preceding actions around the minimum staffing standards rule over the past few years. The moratorium in the Fiscal Year 2026 (FY 26) appropriations applied specifically to the regulation, which was subsequently repealed in December 2025. The two lawsuits settled in federal court in April and June 2025 determined, in part, that CMS did not have the authority to issue regulations that went beyond staffing outlined in statute. This bill, if enacted into legislation as written, would clear the way for CMS to regulate a minimum staffing standard of 3.48 HPRD total nursing and 24/7 RN staffing. The bill would also allow for CMS to increase or expand upon these requirements if recommended by the HHS Secretary based on the results of a staffing study. CMS could require a higher HPRD of total nurse staffing or could require specific HPRD for different roles including RNs, CNAs, or other staff such as Infection Preventionists.

The bill also includes provisions to increase funding for survey and certification and to require states to invest Civil Money Penalty (CMP) dollars into workforce activities including recruitment, retention, and training. It further codifies the regulations that were upheld and not repealed by CMS that require states to report the portion of Medicaid payments that are spent on direct care staff compensation.

In our February 12, 2026 statement, LeadingAge president and CEO Katie Smith Sloan said, “Now more than ever, as America’s population ages and demand for care and services grows, nursing homes, which provide 24/7 care in a setting unlike any other in health care, are a critical element in our country’s long-term care continuum…. . The bill stops well short of addressing the fundamental … issue: the need to expand the aging services workforce. We do not support it.”

Workforce and funding are critical concerns. LeadingAge will be working with Hill staff to address them as we monitor the progress of this bill.