Midwifery Workforce Training Act.

Stefani, along with a broad slate of coauthors, advances a measure that would, upon legislative appropriation, direct the Department of Health Care Access and Information to fund and oversee a statewide study of midwifery education conducted by an outside consultant. The primary objective, as reflected in the bill’s findings, is to identify opportunities and barriers to accessible, high-quality midwifery education and to craft a sustainable workforce strategy that reflects California’s diverse population, recognizing that midwives provide a substantial share of perinatal care and that the current midwifery education ecosystem includes only one program accepting students.

The measure adds a new provision authorizing the department to administer funding for the study and outlines a 14-item scope, covering status and trends in education, a financial sustainability plan, assessment of tuition funding resources and typical debt, pathways to diversify the student pipeline, needs of students and preceptors, hosting institutions beyond nursing schools, rural and urban viability, education consortium models, preceptor shortages, interprofessional education sites for collaboration between midwives and obstetric trainees, innovations enabling joint training with separate exit requirements, alignment with the needs of birthing families and future midwives, and projected job needs and growth. It also expands the definition of reproductive health care professionals to include medical doctors, licensed midwives, CNMs, NPs, RNs, PAs, doulas, LVNs, and perinatal community health workers, shaping who is engaged in the study.

Implementation relies on an appropriation; the measure does not alter existing authorities for the department’s current midwifery education program, which operates under a funding mechanism contingent on annual budget action. A procurement process would select the outside consultant under standard state rules, and the resulting report would be prepared for the Legislature in a Government Code-compliant format, with public posting on the department’s website and notice to a reproductive health and maternity care mailing list within 36 months after funds are appropriated. The measure defines a broad stakeholder set and signals an intent to gather data across institutions including non-nursing schools and to examine interprofessional training opportunities.

Taken together, the measure situates midwifery education within a data-driven workforce planning framework, seeking to illuminate financing structures, geographic considerations, and institutional capacity that could inform future policy, budgeting, and program design decisions. By focusing on diversification, preceptor capacity, and cross-disciplinary education, the study maps pathway options that respond to California’s reproductive health needs while awaiting an appropriated funding decision and the resulting implementation plan.