Welcome to Legislative Trends, your go-to source for the latest updates on state policy action affecting infants, toddlers, and their families during legislative sessions. Each week, our team of policy analysts tracks key legislative movements, from state budget proposals impacting Medicaid and SNAP to bills advancing paid family leave, child care, and other critical prenatal-to-3 policies. Below is a sampling of legislation we’re tracking from across the country, all grounded in the evidence-based policies highlighted in our Prenatal-to-3 Policy Roadmap. Stay informed and ahead of the curve with our timely analysis of the trends shaping early childhood policy. 

KEY HIGHLIGHTS

• Doulas: Arkansas, Georgia, and Virginia are working to expand access to doula services.
• Child Care: New Mexico is looking to increase funding for child care and New York is working to increase teacher pay.
• Tax Credits: Kansas, Kentucky, and Montana are proposing child tax credits. 

LEGISLATIVE UPDATES

Administrative Burden

• Idaho (H.B. 109), New York (A. 4416), and Utah (H.B. 403) introduced legislation to limit what foods families can purchase with their SNAP benefits. At least eight states have introduced similar proposals this session.  
• Illinois H.B. 2353 would make any household that includes a veteran categorically eligible for SNAP if their income is less than 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL).  
• Texas H.B. 2202 and S.B. 529 would extend SNAP certification periods to 12 months for all families and would require the Health and Human Services Commission to conduct random quality control checks each month.  

Child Care

• Maryland S.B. 611 would allow child care providers accepting subsidies to access the state employee health and welfare benefits program.  
• New Mexico S.J.R. 6/S.B. 167 would increase yearly withdrawals from the Early Childhood Trust Fund from $250 million to $500 million. The resolution would bring this issue to voters, allowing them to codify the fund and its yearly withdrawal in the state’s constitution.  
• New York S. 3415 would establish a task force to study the implementation of universal child care, create an Office of Early Childhood Education, and establish a fund to bring wages and benefits at parity with public school teachers through quarterly payments and appropriate funds.  
• Ohio H.B. 2 would establish a cost-share program in which child care costs are shared equally between employers, employees, and the state. There are no income limits for employees, and employers can cover the employee portion.  
• Rhode Island H.B. 5281 would increase the initial income eligibility for child care subsidies to 85% of the state median income (SMI), remove copays for families at or below 100% of the FPL, and limit copays to 7% of income for other families.  
• Virginia H.B. 2538 would create an Early Childhood Care and Education Fund.

Doulas

• Arkansas H.B. 1269 would require Medicaid coverage for doula services, including postpartum home visits, lactation, and breastfeeding visits, in addition to extending Medicaid coverage to 12 months postpartum. 
• Georgia H.B. 263 would establish a pilot program for doula Medicaid coverage, covering five total visits, with funding ending January 1, 2028.  
• Virginia S.B. 1418 would allow doulas to bill Medicaid for six postpartum visits. The state currently allows reimbursement for 8 total visits during the perinatal period. 

Early Intervention

• Rhode Island H.B. 5164 would create the Early Childhood IDEA Services Task Force to make recommendations to improve access to IDEA services including EI services. The task force must submit a report within 12 months of the first convening.

Home Visiting

• Nebraska L.B. 22 would require the state to submit a state plan amendment to cover evidence-based home visiting services under the targeted case management benefit in Medicaid. 

Medicaid

• Arkansas H.B. 1269 would extend postpartum Medicaid coverage to 12 months and allow for the state to confer presumptive Medicaid eligibility to pregnant women.  
• Hawaii H.B. 1349 would extend CHIP coverage to pregnant people who are otherwise ineligible due to their immigration status.   
• Idaho H.B. 138 would require the continuation of the 90% federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP), establishment of work requirements, an enrollment cap, a lifetime limit of 36 months of coverage for the expansion population, maintenance of an improper error rate of less than 5%, and suspension of automatic renewals and pre-populated forms. 
• Mississippi legislators filed 13 bills to expand Medicaid, all of which died in committee.  
• Montana H.B. 185 would require 3 years of continuous coverage for children under age 6, starting at birth or time of enrollment/re-enrollment.
• Tennessee S.B. 851 would authorize the governor to expand Medicaid in alignment with the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and to negotiate the terms of expansion with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). 

 Paid Family and Medical Leave

• Arizona H.B. 2461 would create a PFML program providing up to 24 weeks of family leave and up to 26 weeks of medical leave.  
• Hawaii H.B. 755, which would create a PFML program providing up to 12 weeks of family leave and up to 26 weeks of medical leave, was voted favorably out of the first House committee, with amendments.  
• Legislation to repeal an existing program or delay implementation of a previously enacted program has been introduced in Maryland S.B. 355 (delay implementation by two years), Minnesota H.F. 11 (delay implementation by one year), Maine L.D. 406 (repeal) New Hampshire H.B. 517 (repeal), and Oregon H.B. 2188 (repeal). 

State Minimum Wage

• Kentucky H.B. 67 would immediately increase the SMW to $9.50 and then gradually increase the wage each year until it reached $15.00 by July 1, 2029.  
• Ohio H.B. 34 would incrementally increase the SMW to $15.00 by 2030.  

Tax Credits

• Kansas S.B. 179 would create a child tax credit (CTC) of up to $600 per qualifying child and H.B. 2232 would create a CTC of up to $1,000 per qualifying child.  
• Kentucky S.B. 47 would create a refundable CTC of up to $1,000 per qualifying child under the age of six.  
• Montana H.B. 220 would create a nonrefundable CTC of up to $1,000 per qualifying child. 
• Vermont H.B. 135 would make Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) holders ineligible for the state EITC and increase the generosity of the credit for childless adults to 100% of the federal credit. 
• Washington H.B. 1214 would expand eligibility for the Working Families Tax Credit to younger filers effective tax year 2026.  

Thank you for staying up to date with this week’s legislative updates. Our team is dedicated to monitoring the policies and trends that impact the prenatal-to-3 space and beyond. For deeper insights into the evidence-based policies driving early childhood progress, explore our Prenatal-to-3 Policy Roadmap. If you have any questions or have an important update from your state, please contact Alyssa Rafa, Assistant Policy Director, at alyssa.rafa@vanderbilt.edu. Let’s work together to drive lasting progress for young children and their families.

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Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center