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Legislative Session Summary
Meghna Patta, MPH, Policy Advisor
| The 2024 legislative session commenced on January 10th and adjourned on the evening of May 8th. Going into their 2024 work, Democrats maintained their 46-19 supermajority (⅔ control) in the House and a 23-12 near supermajority in the Senate. With the Democratic controlled legislature returning, major progressive policies emerged in the form of increased gun control measures, housing and property tax bills, and bills aimed at reducing the rising costs of healthcare for Coloradans (in response to the end of the Public Health Emergency). With these and other priorities in mind, a record number of bills were introduced. | The Legislature also approved historic K-12 investments, including eliminating the budget stabilization factor from the school finance formula (the formula that determines funding for schools every year). This is the first time Colorado will be able to fully fund public schools since 2009 and represents a $705 increase in spending per student, or $15,000 per classroom. | This year, 705 bills were introduced over the course of the 120 day session, making it the highest amount of bills introduced since 2019. Of the 705 introduced bills, 525 were passed by the legislature this year, which represents a 74% passage rate and is comparable to previous legislative sessions. 519 of 525 bills that passed became law. | A few bills of interest are briefly highlighted below, and a longer list of MCH-related bills may be found here. | SB24-175: Improving Perinatal Health Outcomes: The Department of Public Health & Environment (department) is also required to contract with the state Perinatal Quality Collaborative (PQC) in order to provide funds for quality improvement initiatives to selected hospitals, track statewide implementation of Maternal Mortality Review Committee recommendations, address gaps and disparities in maternal care, and more. The department is also required to establish a grant program to provide funds to eligible hospitals to participate in QI initiatives. | HB24-1262: Maternal Health Midwives: This bill requires the Colorado Civil Rights Division within DORA to collect reports of mistreatments in the context of maternity care in ways that allow data to be accessible (confidential information can be de-identified and reports can be generated for the public) and expands the information that can be provided by individuals. This bill also requires the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment to contract with an external entity to study closures and report on the availability of perinatal health care providers and others. | HB24-1456: Birth Equity: This bill prohibits correctional facilities from using restraints on pregnant and postpartum incarcerated individuals during labor and delivery. This bill also requires correctional facilities to develop administrative policies including a system for human milk storage, to ensure a newborn can receive the human milk the parent has pumped for the newborn’s nourishment. | | |
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2024 Health Links Webinar Series
Join us for our upcoming webinar series! We're covering highly-requested topics ranging from psychological preparedness to ageism in the workplace.
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Targeted Universalism Community of Practice
The 2024 community of practice is an opportunity for participants to grow their targeted universalism (TU) "muscle," build relationships with other professionals across the U.S., and grapple with the challenges and opportunities with planning for, implementing, and evaluating TU. Applications are open until July 30, 2024. Cost: $5,000 per individual and fee reduction scholarships available. Learn more about this opportunity and apply.
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It’s not too late to get your tax credits!
Coloradans are still able to file their taxes to receive tax credits and their TABOR refunds. You can help connect families to resources by encouraging them to file by the extension deadline of October 15th, 2024. If they haven’t filed their federal and/or state tax return yet, help them get started at GetAheadColorado.org.
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IMATTER Now Permanent
IMatter, the program that provides free behavioral health support to children and youth, was recently made permanent. We know that behavioral health is a huge area of focus for LPHAs and so I think it may be worthwhile to let them know about the program, and encourage them to connect with relevant community members to further spread the word. Below is a blurb. IMatter also has a lot of outreach materials in their campaign toolkit if LPHAs want to lean into spreading awareness as a public health strategy.
In May 2024, the Colorado State Legislature officially made I Matter, a program that provides up to six free counseling sessions for any Colorado youth, permanent. The program is the first of its kind in the nation, and since its launch in October 2021 has served over 12,500 youth, with over 49,000 therapy sessions provided.
Visit IMatterColorado.org or YoImportoColorado.org to sign up for services in English or Spanish. Signing up takes less than 10 minutes, and you don’t need any sort of insurance or other documents to do so. Questions? Access the I Matter FAQs here.
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Colorado Safe Routes to School
A new grant funding application period is anticipated to open this August and close in early November. Approximately $7M will be available for infrastructure and non-infrastructure projects supporting communities in providing students and families with safe, accessible means of active transportation to and from school. Over the coming months, the Grant Application page will be updated with information and resources. It is recommended that all interested applicants read the Community Engagement Toolkit as well as the new strategic plan. Both documents offer valuable guidance that will strengthen your projects and applications. Colorado Safe Routes to School Program Manager Melissa Trecoske Houghton is offering 20-minute individual consultations to answer questions and talk to you about your project. Please email Melissa at Melissa.houghton@state.co.us to schedule. Spanish interpretation is available for the consultation.
The 2025 grant cycle:
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Includes funding for all grade levels (K-12) for the first time.
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Increases the maximum award for Infrastructure projects from $750K to $1M.
- Offers 100% funding to projects from qualifying communities.
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Adams County worked tirelessly to hire for and operate a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site in their community during the 2024 tax season. Below is a brief blurb highlighting the far-reaching impact of their efforts: | The Adams County MCH team hired four tax site personnel, including one site coordinator and three tax preparers. Outreach efforts were conducted across 100 local organizations encompassing small businesses, community centers, schools, non-profits, and internal Adams County departments to promote awareness of the tax site. Our final numbers were direct proof of the hard work executed by the tax staff and the MCH team, landing us with 331 tax returns processed, with 21% qualifying either for the Child Tax Credit (CTC) or Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), resulting in a cumulative combined refund amount of $704,911 in federal and state refunds. Due to high demand, the tax site extended its service by one day in April. Additionally, we conducted a brief survey among participants to gauge their tax site awareness, satisfaction levels, and intentions for their tax refunds. The top responses indicated food, housing/rent, and utilities, proving tax credits serve to cover family basic needs. We take pride in the success of this initiative that significantly benefited Adams County residents financially! | | |
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Equity 2.0 - Targeted Universalism Learning Journey
In December 2023 Melissa Leal (moving upstream strategic anchor lead) began sharing learnings about targeted universalism (TU). Last month we continued to take a deeper dive into the action steps of the TU framework, which we will continue for the next few months.
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Deeper Dive: Targeted Universalism Stages
- Co-create a universal goal.
- Assess the general population’s performance relative to the universal goal.
- Assess all segment groups’ performance relative to the universal goal and situatedness.
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Assess and understand the structures and systems that support or impede each group from achieving the universal goal.
- Develop and implement targeted strategies so all groups reach the universal goal.
- Develop bridging stories and messaging that support strategies.
- Conduct ongoing evaluation/measurement of impact relative to the universal goal.
| Once we have data that shows how groups are situated differently relative to the universal goal, we begin the process of inquiry to understand how structures and systems create advantages or disadvantages for groups. Focusing on structures and systems is essential to create lasting change because once they are set up, they are automatic, enduring, and impact everyone.1 | |
Process1
- Build a diverse and inclusive group to work through this assessment.
- Make meaning of the data.
- Analyze the structures and systems by asking, “What are the practices, processes and procedures associated with getting to the universal goal?” and “Who holds power, makes the decisions, and allocates money?”.
- Record findings in a way that allows the group to make connections.
- Imagine solutions.
| 1 Assess Structural and Systemic Barriers Synthesis: Drawing from Targeted Universalism: Policy & Practice primer by john a. powell, Stephen Menendian, and Wendy Ake; Karen Bouris at the Belonging & Co-Creation Lab; Dr. Nina Moreno, Paul Hudson at Seed Collaborative; and Rio Gonzalez at the Othering & Belonging Institute. | Come back next month to continue diving deeper into the next action step of the TU framework. Please reach out to Melissa Leal with any questions about targeted universalism, moving upstream, or change management. | |
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The Title V Maternal and Child Health Program (MCH) works with statewide partners and local public health agency representatives to improve the health of Coloradans using population-based and infrastructure-building strategies. Our mission is to optimize the health and well-being of mothers and children by employing primary prevention and early intervention public health strategies.
This project is supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under the Colorado Maternal and Child Health Block Grant 6 B04MC45202. This information or content and conclusions are those of the author and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government.
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