Legislative Action at a Glance

This week’s legislative activity included state action to improve state employees’ access to PFML and to support doula services. 

• Paid Family and Medical Leave: Iowa enacted, and North Carolina introduced, legislation to improve state employees’ access to PFML. 

• Doulas: North Carolina proposed legislation to support access to doula care. 

Our policy analysts track legislative activity each week, following where states are taking action on the evidence-based policies in our Prenatal-to-3 State Policy Roadmap. 

• Iowa H.F. 2502 repeals the requirement that state employees must be eligible for FMLA to take paid parental leave. This bill was signed by the governor and enacted.
• North Carolina S. 1041 would require the State Human Resources Commission to adopt rules to provide state employees with up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave. Currently, the state provides state employees and teachers with up to 8 weeks of paid leave for parents who give birth, and 4 weeks for other parents.

• Colorado H.B. 1004 would extend the tax credit for taxpayers who make monetary contributions to support child care by 10 years—the credit is set to sunset in 2035. This bill passed the House.
• Delaware H.B. 387 would increase child care subsidy income eligibility limit gradually from 200% of the FPL to 275% by 2029.
• Oklahoma H.B. 3320 would have permanently made child care workers eligible for child care subsidies—the current program is set to sunset in 2028. The bill was vetoed by the governor and overridden by the House.

• Colorado H.B. 1221, H.B. 1222, and H.B. 1223 would create a new refundable tax credit effective tax year 2027 of varying value depending on child age, family income, and annual revenue forecasts. These bills passed the House.

• Colorado H.B. 1044 would require a health facility that provides labor and childbirth services to make a statement available on respectful maternity care including the right to a birthing companion or doula during labor and delivery. This bill was enacted.
• Connecticut H.B. 5561 was amended to remove doula reimbursement rate increases and instead would require the Commissioner to create a five-year process to regularly review Medicaid provider reimbursements. This bill passed both chambers.
• Missouri H.B. 2372 contains multiple provisions related to health care including the Missouri Doula Reimbursement Act, which would codify the existing Medicaid coverage of doula services. This bill passed the House.
• North Carolina S. 964 would direct the state to seek CMS approval for Medicaid coverage of doula services during the prenatal and postpartum periods. A report on the details of the expected benefit would be due to the legislature by March 2027.

• Vermont H. 951 includes a provision that would require the state to conduct a needs assessment on the implementation of new federal Medicaid and SNAP work requirements and their associated household benefit losses.

• Arizona H.B. 4147/S.B. 1840 would create new oversight and enforcement requirements for SNAP, including expanded data matching and a requirement that the state must reduce its SNAP payment error rate to 3% or less by 2030. This bill was vetoed by the governor.
• New Jersey S. 295/A. 4941 would require the state to accept self-attested information from SNAP recipients related to dependent care costs, household composition, resources, shelter costs, and citizenship status.
• North Carolina H.B. 1057 would establish a broad set of food security and agricultural support initiatives. It would create a SNAP nutrition incentive program (pending federal approval), fund state-level replacements for lost federal SNAP administrative dollars, and invest in food distribution, farmland preservation, and local food systems. It would also expand mobile food access and support grocery retail in underserved areas.