The U.S. House has passed a bill to reauthorize the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program (MIECHV) Proposed MIECHV reauthorization would increase the program’s funding by $500 million over five years and include incentives for additional state investments Bipartisan MIECHV legislation would provide increased resources and long-term funding certainty for MIECHV, which improves outcomes for vulnerable infants, toddlers and post-partum women
On December 2, the U.S. House passed the bipartisan Jackie Walorski Maternal and Child Home Visiting Reauthorization Act of 2022 (H.R. 8876) with a vote of 390-26. The legislation would reauthorize the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV) program, which is currently slated to expire on December 16 at the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2022. Counties support the legislation, which would extend and provide additional resources to this critical program supporting pregnant and post-partum women, infants and toddlers.
MIECHV provides funding to states to support evidence-based family and child home visiting programs in high-risk communities. As of 2020, MIECHV served 140,000 parents and children in 1,054 U.S. counties. Though primarily a federal-state partnership, MIECHV helps counties fulfill our shared responsibility with the state and federal governments to improve maternal and child health, prevent child abuse and neglect, encourage positive parenting and promote child development and school readiness. Counties may also fund and operate their own home visiting programs out of their local health departments.
Along with reauthorizing MIECHV – which must occur to prevent programs from terminating or experiencing lapses in funding – H.R. 8876 would strengthen and expand the program’s reach by providing an additional $100 million in annual funding from FY 2023 through FY 2027. Counties applaud this proposed increase as well as the bill’s provisions offering additional federal matching funds to incentivize new state investments.
MIECHV will need to be reauthorized in an end of year funding package if this bill does not pass before the end of the 117th Congress. Given the key role that counties play in promoting positive maternal health outcomes and supporting prenatal-to-three systems, we urge the Senate to swiftly pass this bipartisan legislation to ensure MIECHV continues to operate with the resources needed to serve high-risk families in our communities. NACo has joined a coalition of organizations representing the nation’s governors, state legislatures, counties, cities and state and local public health agencies in calling for the reauthorization of the MIECHV program. We will continue to monitor progress on this legislation.
Read a summary of the legislation here, a section-by-section here, and find the full bill text here.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
