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

• Child Care: Bills to encourage employer support for child care continue to advance. 
• Medicaid: States continue to propose work requirements for Medicaid. 
• State Minimum Wage: Several states are considering phasing out or eliminating the subminimum wage for workers with disabilities.

LEGISLATIVE UPDATES

Administrative Burden

• New Jersey A.B. 5441 would require the NJHelp portal to expand to include all state-administered public assistance programs and a single common application for all programs. 
• Tennessee H.B. 1236, which would prohibit the use of SNAP to purchase candy and soft drinks, passed the House.  

Child Care

• Arkansas S.B.148 would include early childhood educators under the state definition of school teachers to provide access to the state’s teacher retirement system. 
• Idaho H.B. 243 was amended to include some ratio regulations based on a system of points per child, factoring in age. A previous version of the bill would have removed maximum child care ratio requirements.  
• New Mexico H.B. 71 was amended and would now increase annual withdrawals from the Early Childhood Trust Fund to the Early Childhood Education and Care Department from $250 million to $400 million. 
• New York A. 6176/S. 5866 would create child care savings accounts, maxed at $5000 for single filers and $10,000 for married filers. 
• North Dakota S.B. 2282 would create the Child Care Contribution Credit, providing a 30% tax credit to employers who contribute to an employee’s child care expenses, effective tax year 2025.  
• Texas H.B. 4024 would create the Child Care Scholarship Fund to increase subsidized child care rates or the number of Child Care Services scholarships provided to eligible families in this state. 
• West Virginia H.B. 3239 would appropriate $5 million to establish a cost-share model for families not eligible for child care subsidies. 

Doulas

• Connecticut H.B. 7214 would establish a perinatal mental health task force, create an annual maternity care report card for birth centers and hospitals, and require the Commissioner of Public Health to complete a study on the integration of doula-friendly hospital policies.  
• Massachusetts S. 789/H. 1312 would expand insurance coverage for doula services and require state employee insurance policies to cover doulas in line with the MassHealth reimbursement.   

Early Intervention

• Massachusetts H. 215 would stipulate that children under 3, upon entering a shelter or receiving a McKinney-Vento verification letter, qualify for EI services.  

Home Visiting

• Rhode Island S.B. 677 would update the annual home visiting report created for the legislature to include state and federal funding amounts and streams, implementation challenges, and an analysis of how other states have integrated Medicaid and home visiting using targeted case management.   

Medicaid

• Hawaii H.B. 1349 would extend Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage to pregnant people who would otherwise be ineligible due to their immigration status. 
• Idaho H.B. 345 would mandate that the Department of Health and Welfare receive legislative approval before seeking Medicaid state plan amendments or waivers that expand coverage or increase net costs to the state and requires the state to seek a waiver for work requirements.  
• Iowa H.F. 948 would create work requirements for Medicaid and direct the state to coordinate with the federal government to align work requirements across programs. 
• New Hampshire S.B. 134 would require the Department of Health and Human Services to resubmit the state's Medicaid waiver to allow the state to enforce work requirements for Medicaid recipients. 

Paid Family and Medical Leave

• Indiana Gov. Braun recently signed an executive order to expand paid parental leave for state employees following the birth of a child.  
• Mississippi H.B. 1063 would provide state employees who are primary caregivers with 6 weeks of paid parental leave following the birth or adoption of a child.  
• Washington H.B. 1213, which would make several modifications to the state's existing PFML program, including expanding job protection benefits, passed the House. 

State Minimum Wage

• Minnesota S.F. 2149 would phase out and fully eliminate the subminimum wage for workers with disabilities by August 1, 2028.  
• North Carolina H. 352 would gradually increase the SMW until it reached $18.00 in 2030 and the wage would be annually adjusted for inflation thereafter.  
• Ohio S.B. 142 would phase out the subminimum wage for workers with disabilities.  

Tax Credits

• Maryland S.B. 414, which would create a refundable tax credit equal to $1,000 for parents who experience a stillbirth, passed the Senate.  
• Missouri H.B. 798 is a large tax package that includes a provision to eliminate the state's nonrefundable state earned income tax credit (EITC) worth 10% of the federal credit and replace it with a larger standard deduction. The bill passed the House. 
• Montana S.B. 232 would increase the generosity of the state's refundable EITC from 10% to 15% of the federal credit and lower the income tax rate.  
• North Carolina H.B. 339 would reinstate the state's refundable EITC worth 5% of the federal credit that was last available in tax year 2023. The bill would also establish a state child and dependent care tax credit (CDCTC) worth up to 100% of the federal credit depending on the household's income. 
• Pennsylvania H.B. 820 would create a refundable state EITC worth 30% of the federal EITC.  
• Rhode Island H.B. 6072 would create a refundable child tax credit (CTC) equal to $1,000 per child. 

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.

Did someone forward you this email? You can sign up for the newsletter here.

Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center