Legislative Action at a Glance

This week’s legislative activity included new state action to expand state tax credits, support paid leave for state employees, and promote employer-supported child care.

• Tax Credits: Oregon’s bill to increase the value of the state EITC is headed to the governor. 

• Paid Family and Medical Leave: Kentucky and Louisiana proposed bills to establish or expand paid leave for state employees.

• Child Care: Virginia and Wisconsin advanced bills to promote employer support of child care. 

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

• Georgia H.B. 1422 would extend eligibility for the state employee paid parental leave program to parents who experience a stillbirth.

• Kentucky H.B. 699 would create a PFML program for state employees of up to 6 weeks of leave.

• Louisiana S.B. 157 would provide 6 weeks of fully paid parental leave for eligible teachers and school employees.

• Colorado H.B. 1260 would delay implementation of the 7% family copayment cap for subsidized child care, prospective payment to providers, and use of grants and contracts for child care from 2026 to 2028.

• Iowa H.F. 2712/H.F. 2514 would codify a pilot program in which early educators are eligible for child care subsidies regardless of their income.

• Utah S.B. 214 would establish the registered home-based child care provider category for programs serving between 4 and 10 children, and a grant program to expand or establish such programs. This bill passed the Senate.

• Virginia S.B. 3 would establish a cost-share program in which the state matches an employer’s contribution to an employee’s child care expenses. This bill passed both chambers.

• Washington S.B. 6353 would decrease provider reimbursement rates for child care subsidies from the 85th percentile of the market rate to the 75th and require payments based on attendance rather than enrollment.

• West Virginia S.B. 5659 would require the development of a cost estimation model to set reimbursement rates.

• Wisconsin S.B. 291 would make child care operational costs, employee reimbursements, reserved child care slots, contribution to dependent care FSAs, and other employer-supported child care expenditures eligible for the business development tax credit. The bill passed both chambers.

• New Jersey A. 4129 would double the maximum value of the state child tax credit (CTC) from $1,000 to $2,000 per child, increase child age eligibility from under 6 years to under 18 years, and expand income eligibility. 

• Oregon S.B. 1507 would increase the value of the state earned income tax credit (EITC) to 17% of the federal credit for families with children under the age of 3, and 14% for other workers. This bill passed both chambers. 

• Arizona S.B. 1236/H.B. 2769 would have enforced more frequent data checks, limited self-attestation, and required quarterly redeterminations for certain eligibility groups. The bill passed the legislature and was vetoed by the governor.

• Iowa S.F. 2422 would require the state to seek a federal waiver to eliminate retroactive eligibility entirely for adults receiving Medicaid with the exception of pregnant people, children, and certain nursing facility residents. For these groups, the bill would shorten retroactive coverage from three to two months.

• Arizona S.B. 1331 would have required most able-bodied adults under the age of 60 receiving SNAP to participate in a mandatory employment & training program, with some exemptions. H.B. 2206 would have set a goal to reduce Arizona's SNAP payment error rate to below or at least 3% by December 2030. It would have imposed administrative funding cuts on the state agency until compliance with corrective plans were met. These bills passed the legislature and were vetoed by the governor.

• Idaho H. 730 would shorten certification periods to no more than 4 months for households with zero net income, containing an able-bodied adult without dependents, or otherwise determined "unstable" by the state. The bill also contains rules and restrictions around data-matching, citizenship verification and enforcement, and categorical income eligibility.

• Minnesota H.F. 3616/S.F. 3618 would adjust the state's individual income tax brackets and introduce a mechanism specifically to raise revenue to cover the state and local costs expected from federal changes to SNAP. It would also order the state to report on the estimated Fiscal Year 2027-28 SNAP-related state costs of reductions to federal administrative funding, error rate penalties, and other impacts to SNAP's financing.

• New Jersey A. 4441 would require the state to distribute contactless EBT cards to all SNAP recipients by the end of January 2027.

• Rhode Island H.B. 7794 would increase Medicaid reimbursement rates for home visiting and appropriate the amount needed to draw down the maximum amount of federal MIECHV funds.

• Tennessee H.B. 2313 would establish an evidence-based, early childhood mental health home visiting program for children from birth to age 5.

• Connecticut H.B. 5414 would create a streamlined process within the Birth-To-Three Program to transition individualized family service plans for military families moving into the state.