Legislative Action at a Glance

This week’s legislative activity included new state action on child care subsidies, paid family leave programs, and tax credits.

• Child Care: New Jersey and Rhode Island proposed bills to increase income eligibility for child care subsidies.

• Paid Family and Medical Leave: Arizona, Hawaii, and Kansas proposed legislation to create statewide PFML programs.

• Tax Credits: Hawaii and New Jersey are considering the implementation of new tax credits for families.

Our policy analysts monitor legislative activity across these nine policy areas, with weekly updates reflecting where states are taking action.

• Arizona H.B. 2945/S.B.1464 and S.B. 1465 would create a statewide PFML program providing up to 26 weeks for employees' own condition and 24 weeks for bonding or caregiving.

• Hawaii H.B. 2360 would create a statewide PFML program providing up to 12 weeks for family leave and 26 weeks for medical leave. 

• Kansas H.B. 2598 would create a statewide PFML program providing up to 12 weeks beginning in January 2028.

• New Jersey A.3451 was enacted, allowing workers at small businesses with as few as 15 employees to benefit from job-protected paid family leave (previously, only employers with 30+ employees were covered).

• New Jersey A. 1374 would increase income eligibility for child care subsidies from 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL) to 300%. A. 2241 would establish the Early Childhood Educator Pay Equity Program to increase compensation for early educators.

• Ohio H.B. 484 would establish a 2-year pilot program to provide child care subsidies for child care workers, regardless of their income.

• Rhode Island H.B. 7393 would increase income eligibility for child care subsidies up to 85% of the state median income (SMI) and would also increase reimbursement rates for child care programs to at least the 75^th percentile of the most recent market rate survey, with infant rates set 30% higher than toddler rates.

• Tennessee H.B. 1979/S.B. 2062 would establish the Promising Futures Fund to pilot child care subsidies for the child care workforce regardless of their income, pilot a child care cost-share model, and implement a new program to provide child care assistance for middle-income working families with incomes between 85% of the SMI and 150%.

• Washington S.B. 5500 would require the state to develop a child care cost estimation model every other year. The bill passed the Senate.

• Hawaii H.B. 2174 would remove the sunset of the expanded state earned income tax credit (EITC), that is set to revert the credit from 40% to 20% after 2027.

• Mississippi S.B. 2860 would create a refundable state EITC of 20% of the federal credit, effective 2026.

• New Jersey A. 3652 would establish an additional state child tax credit (CTC) for families under 250% of the FPL, worth up to $582 per child under 6 and $187 per child ages 6-25.

• Kentucky H.B. 471 would require the state Dept. for Medicaid Services and any managed care organization in the state to cover and reimburse for doula services would establish the Doula Advisory Council to make recommendations and advise on policy implementation.

• Mississippi H.B. 1493, also known as the Mississippi Maternal Health Momnibus Act, was introduced. The bill would, among other provisions, require the state to conduct a study of doula certification and reimbursement a create a pilot program for doula Medicaid reimbursement.

• Rhode Island H.B. 7322 would, among other provisions, require the state Department of Health to establish the maternal health workforce development program to expand diverse training pathways for maternal health workers, including doulas.

• Kansas S.B. 363 would tighten eligibility and enrollment rules for Medicaid and SNAP by requiring more frequent data-matching across state agencies and limiting what the agencies can waive without legislative approval.

• Kentucky H.B. 2 would update Medicaid cost-sharing rules for certain enrollees, set specific copay amounts, and add a work/community engagement requirement in addition to provisions around Medicaid and SNAP redetermination.

• Mississippi now has at least 12 bills currently filed with different Medicaid expansion parameters. H.B. 256 would expand Medicaid up to 138% of the FPL through a federal waiver to use Medicaid dollars to buy private Marketplace health plans, set up income-based quarterly cost-sharing for enrollees, and establish a trigger law ending expansion if federal matching falls below 90%.

• Arizona S.B. 1368 would request a waiver to define allowed purchases under SNAP. The bill defines exclusions—among them: sugary drinks, candy, "snack food," and "prepared hot foods intended for immediate consumption."

• Mississippi S.B. 2451 would assign certification periods of no more than 4 months to households with zero net income, or other households with circumstances determined by the state Department of Human Services to be unstable, and 1-2 month certification periods to households the department determines will become ineligible for SNAP in the near future.

• Nebraska L.B. 734 would require the state Department of Health and Human Services to apply for waivers to restore SNAP work requirement exemptions for homeless individuals, veterans, and certain former foster youth in response to federal work requirement mandates.

• New York S.9033 would establish a state-funded SNAP program for those excluded from federal benefits solely due to immigration status. The bill also outlines procedures to protect any applicant information from being reported to federal immigration enforcement agencies.

• Oklahoma H.B. 2984 would require the state to request a waiver to ban the use of a resident's SNAP benefits on items sold outside of the state of Oklahoma.

• Rhode Island H.B. 7394 would require the state Department of Human Services to enroll households determined eligible for TANF in SNAP if they meet other eligibility requirements.

• Hawaii S.B. 3235 would establish a phased minimum wage increase to $24.00 per hour (up from $16.00) by January 2030, and eliminate the tipped employee subminimum wage. It would also implement annual cost-of-living adjustments beginning September 2030. 

• Mississippi S.B. 2662 would raise the state minimum wage to $12.00 per hour (up from $7.25) in January 2027, and to $15.00 per hour in January 2030.

• Rhode Island S.B. 2325 would implement annual cost-of-living adjustments for the state minimum wage beginning January 2028. 

• Vermont H. 743 would raise the state minimum wage to the livable wage of $18.60 per hour (up from $14.42) in January 2027.