Establish nurse safe staffing standards

This bill establishes mandatory minimum nurse-to-patient ratios for various hospital units in Montana, directly affecting licensed hospitals and the nurses who work there. It requires hospitals to create staffing committees with at least 50% direct-care nurses to develop and approve annual staffing plans that specify minimum staffing levels for each unit. The bill sets specific maximum patient loads for nurses across different departments, such as limiting ICU nurses to two patients and ER nurses to four non-critical patients, while also mandating that staffing plans be publicly posted and that hospitals maintain detailed records of actual staffing levels.