Nurse-midwifery education program.

Senator Caballero’s proposal would establish the California Nurse-Midwifery Education Fund within the Department of Health Care Access and Information to create California-based, master’s-level nurse-midwifery education programs at the California State University system, the University of California, or both, with the objective of expanding the state’s nurse-midwifery education pipeline for areas with demonstrated maternity care workforce needs. The funded programs would be required to meet California regulatory requirements for nurse-midwifery education and be eligible for accreditation or preaccreditation by the Accreditation Commission for Midwifery Education, and they may be located outside a traditional school of nursing while remaining within CSU/UC auspices.

The fund would be administered by the department and receive General Fund moneys when appropriated, with an explicit intent to allocate two million dollars for the 2025–26 fiscal year. In addition to General Fund support, the fund could receive donations, public-private partnerships, fees, and transfers from the General Fund. Programs chosen for funding would be governed by competitive criteria aimed at prioritizing sites that address areas with maternity or midwifery workforce need, and there is a requirement that master’s degrees be an option for students as the culminating degree of the funded programs. The funding is intended to cover annual operating costs for the development, operation, and maintenance of the education programs through the first cohort’s graduation or five years, whichever is shorter, and funds are to supplement rather than supplant existing midwifery education funding, including Song-Brown Act allocations and the university budgets for those programs.

The bill’s findings frame the policy context as addressing a maternity care access crisis, noting midwifery care’s association with favorable care processes and outcomes and highlighting disparities tied to race and access. It also emphasizes California’s currently limited midwifery education capacity, with CSU Fullerton identified as the only in-state program accepting new students at the time of the findings. The proposed framework assigns implementation to the department, but the text does not specify ongoing reporting, performance metrics, or penalty provisions. A finite funding horizon is created, with initial support intended through the first cohort’s graduation or five years, and continued funding would require future legislative action.