March 25, 2026 · CHILDREN AND YOUTH · 2,821 words · 25 speakers · 130 segments
Thank you. Thank you. Good morning. I'd like to call this meeting of the House Children and Youth Committee to order. Just a reminder that this meeting is being broadcasted and recorded. Please be sure that your cell phones are silenced and that you're using a microphone when speaking, ensuring that the microphone is on. Today we will be voting on the following resolutions. House Resolution 407, sponsored by Representative Hill Evans. House Resolution 450, sponsored by Representative Mays. House Resolution 451, sponsored by Representative Curry. Today we'll vote on a resolution that provides an opportunity to celebrate children's success in school and throughout their lives. We will vote on resolutions to promote the work of black midwives and raising awareness of the maternal health crisis through the Black Maternal Health Week. To get started, I'd like to ask Brooke to call the roll.
Chair McNeil. Designation. Representative Bellman. Boyd. Designation. Serato. Curry. Fleming. Designation. Genst. Designation. Hambidge. Howard. Designation. Kazim. Designation. Kuduski. Designation. McAndrew. Designation. nelson designation parker designation chair clunk here reps barger day designation flick hogan designation kozak designation mckenzie mihalik leave peel schlegel walsh
zimmerman you have a quorum thank you brooke the chair calls up house resolution 407 printers
number 2816. Danielle, please provide a summary of the resolution. House Resolution 407, sponsored by Representative Hill Evans, is a resolution recognizing the week of April 11th through the
17th, 2026, as the week of the young child in Pennsylvania. Thank you, Danielle. The question is, will the committee report the resolution? Representative Hill Evans is here to provide
brief remarks on the resolution. Thank you, Chairs, and thank you to the Children and Youth Committee for considering House Resolution 407 to designate the week of April 11th through the 17th of 2026 as the week of the young child here in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. We've seen it demonstrated time and again in this legislative body that policy initiatives such as support for early education are essential to building and maintaining strong communities. When we support programs to foster healthy development in the early years, we're doing the work to guarantee a strong future where community members receive a robust education and go on to become responsible citizens who contribute to our economic productivity and have the resources to parent the next generation. If we ignore the plight of the young child, we will pay the price through perpetuating cycles of poverty that further entrench families into financial disadvantage until their situation becomes insurmountable, undermining our society's economic growth and stability. Let's recommit ourselves to making sure that all of Pennsylvania's children have every possible resource needed to fulfill their potential. I respectfully ask for a yes vote on House Resolution 407, designating the week of April 11th through the 17th as the week of the young child in Pennsylvania.
Thank you, Chair. Thank you, Committee. Thank you, Representative Hill-Evans. The question recurs, will the committee report the resolution? Are there any negative votes on this resolution? Okay, Brooke, would you please call the roll?
chair mcneil designation yes representatives bellman designation i'm sorry boyd designation yes serato curry fleming designation yes against designation yes hambridge yes howard designation yes kazim designation yes kajewski designation yes mcandrew designation yes nelson designation yes parker yes designation yes chair clunk yes reps barger day flick hogan designation yes kozak designation yes mckenzie
Mihalik Pugh Schlegel Walsh Zimmerman on the question the ayes are 22 and the nays are four the resolution will be reported as committed Thank you. The chair calls up House Resolution 450, printers number 3048. Danielle, please provide a summary of the resolution.
House Resolution 450, sponsored by Representative Mays, is a resolution recognizing March 31, 2026 as Black Midwives Day in Pennsylvania. The following third-party interest group supports this resolution, the Pennsylvania affiliate of the American College of Nurse Midwives.
Thank you, Danielle. The question is, will the committee report the bill? Representative Mays is present to provide brief remarks on the resolution.
Good morning, Chair Hambage, Chair Clunk, and colleagues. I am present before you today to speak in support of House Resolution 450, to recognize Black Midwives' Day on March 31st, and to honor the generations of black women who safeguarded birth, life, and community health in our country often without recognition, protection, or support. Before hospitals became the center of childbirth, it was black midwives, often called granny midwives, who delivered babies, cared for mothers, and held communities together from the start of this nation, especially in rural and segregated areas where black families were denied access to medical institutions. Their knowledge was clinical, it was cultural, and deeply rooted in community trust. They were healers, they were educators, and first responders long before those roles were formally named. Yet, the history of midwifery in the United States is also a history of exclusion. As the medical profession professionalized childbirth in the early 20th century, policies and licensing systems were used to push black midwives out of practice. A workforce that had been essential to public health was deliberately marginalized and essentially erased. Today we are living with the consequences of that erasure. In the United States, black women are still three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white women, and these deaths are overwhelmingly preventable. As co-chair of the Pennsylvania Black Maternal Health Caucus, I must remind you that black moms in this commonwealth are two times more likely to die compared to white moms, and that overwhelmingly 98% of maternal deaths in our Commonwealth are preventable. At the same time, research consistently shows that midwife-led, culturally responsive care improves outcomes, reducing unnecessary interventions, improving patient trust, and increasing the likelihood of healthy births. This resolution affirms that black midwives in our Commonwealth, they are not a relic of the past. They are a central part of the future of maternal health in Pennsylvania. Their knowledge, their education, their training, their presence, their leadership saves lives. I respectfully ask for your support of House Resolution 450, recognizing Black Midwives Day in this Commonwealth, so that we can continue to uplift and amplify the profound legacy of black birth workers across generations in this Commonwealth and throughout this nation.
Thank you so much. Thank you, Representative Mayes. The question recurs, will the committee report the resolution? On that question, the chair recognizes Chairwoman Klunk.
Thank you, Madam. Thank you, Madam Chair. I will not waste the committee's time by making a motion to re-refer this resolution to a more acceptable committee like health or professional licensure because I know it won't succeed. But I would like to point out that House Resolution 421 was on our voting agenda today that would designate April as Child Abuse Prevention Month in Pennsylvania, which would be 100% applicable to the Children and Youth Committee, and I'm a little upset that that has been removed from our voting agenda today. on the particular resolution today before us today resolution 450 I appreciate the maker but I do believe that we should be working on resolutions that are more inclusive when it comes to all of our providers and like I've said in the past I will be voting no thank you are there any other comments
The chair recognizes Representative McKenzie.
I also will be voting no on this today because, well, it's a lovely idea, and anyone who helps a human baby arrive safely is a very valuable person. So I don't like the fact that we're not including all midwives of every ethnicity and just all of them are helping to make the babies of Pennsylvania arrive safely. So I don't want to just say, you know, it's one group that we're going to be honoring. I liked the first resolution that we had, which was for all children. We wouldn't want to have one saying the week of the young white child or the week of the young black child. So I think that we should be honoring every single midwife. And so I can't be a yes on this. Thank you Thank you Representative Representative Curry Thank you Chair Respectfully I appreciate your comments Representative
I actually think that right now we have a statistic that speaks to women who are dying in our commonwealth two times higher than anyone else. So for me, as a woman of color, as a black woman, I'm going to speak about the statistic. There is no way that the PA Black Maternal Health Caucus does not respect all midwives. As a matter of fact, we have on our momnibus two pieces of legislation that respectfully holds up all midwives. Today, we are identifying the fact that black midwives are the moms that were out there helping black moms to give birth safely. So I just want to put that on the record that this is not a space where we're trying to separate races. The PA Black Maternal Health Caucus loves all moms. And we want to make sure that this very commonwealth that all of us are serving will make sure that we don't have maternity deserts, that we take care of people in the rural areas, suburban and urban areas. And today we want to celebrate black midwives because of the history. And it is not about putting the word black in front of any resolution. Thank you, Chair.
Thank you, Representative. Representative Flick.
Thank you, Chair. Rep. Mays, thank you so much for bringing this forward and also for taking so much time to research this subject and for coming to my office so we can have a great dialogue on this. I will be a hard yes on this and also on behalf of my children, my white children and my black children. Thank you for doing this. Thank you.
Thank you, Representative. Are there any further comments? Representative Mays, I'm really appreciative of you bringing this forward. Not only do we have the opportunity to learn more about the history of black midwives, but when we have conversations that get down to things about the hard numbers, the risk of maternal death that black women in this country face, and we can highlight ways that we can avoid it and protect them, and then make us consider more policy around preserving the life of all moms, black moms, white moms, moms of every race, of origin and ethnicity. I really appreciate having these conversations, and I am a strong supporter of this bill because I think that you're bringing to the forefront something we should all be discussing. So thank you. With that, Brooke, could you please call the roll?
Chair McNeil.
Designation, yes.
Representatives Bellman.
Yes.
Boyd.
Designation, yes.
Serato.
Yes.
Curry. Fleming.
Designation, yes.
Genst.
Designation, yes.
Himbage.
Yes.
Howard.
Designation, yes.
Kazim.
Designation, yes.
Krajewski.
Designation, yes.
McAndrew.
Designation, yes.
Nelson.
Designation, yes.
Parker.
Designation, yes.
Chair Clunk.
No.
Reps Barger.
No.
Day. Flick.
Yes.
Hogan. Kozak. Designation, no. Mackenzie. Mihalik? On leave. Pugh? Schlegel? Walsh? No. Zimmerman?
On that question, the ayes are 15 to 10. The resolution will be reported as committed. I'd like to correct the record that House Resolution 407 should be reported from the committee 22 to 3. the chair calls up house resolution 451 printers number 3062 danielle please provide a summary of
the resolution house resolution 451 sponsored by representative curry is a resolution recognizing the week of april 11th through the 17th of 2026 as black maternal health week in pennsylvania to bring attention to the maternal health crisis and the importance of reducing maternal mortality and morbidity among black women. The following third-party interest group supports this resolution. The Pennsylvania affiliate of the American College of Nurse Midwives.
Thank you, Danielle. The question is, will the committee report the resolution? Representative Curry is present to provide brief remarks on the resolution.
Thank you, chairs, and thank you, colleagues. I rise today in strong support of this amazing resolution that talks about Black Maternal Health Week. And I am proud to say that this will be actually the fifth time we celebrate. Because in 2022, I was able to bring together folks to understand what this is actually about. And then in 2023, we know we came together to bring the PA Black Maternal Health Caucus. together. And so in saying that, I know everyone in here already knows the statistics, so I don't need to repeat it. But I do want to say that Black Maternal Health Week is not just about awareness. It is about accountability. It is about committing to policies that ensure every mother is heard, respected, and receives quality care before, during, and after pregnancy. When we support this resolution here in this committee and throughout our caucuses we are affirming the lives of all mothers black mothers white mothers mothers of color matter in Pennsylvania We are saying that these disparities are unacceptable and that we will continue the work to eliminate it because when mothers are healthy we know that families thrive We understand that when families thrive, all of our communities thrive and our commonwealth is then stronger. I respectfully ask for an affirmative vote. Thank you.
Thank you, Representative Curry. The question recurs, will the committee report the resolution? On that question, are there any comments? Thank you, Brooke.
Could you please call the roll? Chair McNeil?
Yes, designation.
Representatives Bellman?
Yes.
Boyd?
Designation, yes.
Serato?
designation totally missed it designation yes curry yes fleming designation yes against designation yes hambridge yes howard designation yes kazim designation yes kraduski designation yes mcandrew designation yes nelson designation yes parker designation yes chair clunk yes reps
Barger, Day, Flick, Hogan, Kozak.
Designation, yes.
McKenzie, Mihalik, Onley, Pugh, Schlegel, Walsh, Zimmerman.
On the question, the ayes are 19 and the nays are 6. The resolution will be reported as committed.
Madam Chair. I'd like to make a motion.
What is your motion?
My motion would be to move to bring up immediately as a special order of business under any other business, Senate Bill 9, printers number 117 for committee vote.
Thank you. There's a motion on the table. It is important to note that it has been a longstanding practice for the majority chair to set the agenda for committee meetings. Today's agenda was set in accordance with that president. Senate Bill 9 is not included on today's agenda.
And Madam Chair, if I may?
Yeah. Is that a, are you making a ruling or just a comment on the motion? A ruling.
I'm going to appeal the ruling of the chair.
Chair Clunk has challenged the ruling of the chair. Those in favor of upholding the ruling of the chair will vote aye. Those opposed no. Brooke, please call the roll.
Chair McNeil.
Designation, no.
Representatives Bellman?
No.
Boyd?
Sorry.
Am I going back?
Let's go on ease for a second.
I'm sorry, Brooke.
Can you please start again?
Madam Chair, on the question, can I make a comment?
We're actually in the middle. Well we're starting over though and I had a comment please hold your comment we're voting
Chair McNeil designation yes representatives
Madam Madam Chair point of order point of order the roll call was already being taken and members were recorded out of order Madam Chair, point of order.
Representative Spellman. Designation, yes.
Boyd.
Designation, yes.
Serato.
What is your assault on our young girls? Stunning and brave.
Designation, yes.
Against.
What is your obsession with the assault on young women?
Hambridge.
Yes.
Howard.
Designation, yes.
Kazim.
Designation, yes. kajewski designation yes mcandrew designation yes nelson designation yes parker designation yes chair clunk no reps barger you people are cowards madam chair you're calling a roll without taking
comment from the members of your day this is a point of order that i'd like to address
Hogan.
No.
Kozak.
I don't think you can do this.
McKenzie.
I don't think this is appropriate.
Mihalik.
They don't care if it's a good one.
Pugh.
Madam Chair, you just can't bully through and ignore your set rules.
Madam Chair, I have a point of order.
This is. I have a point of order that I want to address.
Our girls have been waiting 322 days.
The ruling chair is a health.
322 days.
for us to pass the Save Women's Sports Act. Nays are ten.
Madam Chair, I have a point of order.
I have a point of order. Our schedule said other business, and we did not allow one of the members of the committee to have their day for their resolution that was taken off. Other resolutions were added. We had a resolution to honor child abuse here in Pennsylvania.
Cowards.
Look at you guys run. Persons, I'm sorry.
Ladies and gentlemen.
Madam Chair, what are you afraid of?
Thank you. Thank you.