Article 7 - Nurse-Midwifery Education Program

California Health and Safety Code — §§ 128570-128572

Sections (3)

Added by Stats. 2025, Ch. 601, Sec. 2. (SB 520) Effective January 1, 2026.

(a)The California Nurse-Midwifery Education Fund is hereby created within the Department of Health Care Access and Information for the purpose of establishing California-based, master’s level, nurse-midwifery education programs within the California State University, the University of California, or both.

(b)The department shall administer the fund. The fund shall receive moneys from the General Fund for the purposes of this article upon appropriation by the Legislature.

(c)It is the intent of the Legislature for the 2025–26 state fiscal year, for two million dollars ($2,000,000) to be appropriated from the General Fund to the department for use in the California

Nurse-Midwifery Education Fund.

(d)The fund may receive donations and contributions from public and private entities, partnerships between public and private entities, fees, cash advances, and transfers from the General Fund.

§ 128571

Added by Stats. 2025, Ch. 601, Sec. 2. (SB 520) Effective January 1, 2026.

(a)The department shall establish competitive application criteria to ensure the optimal sites selection for the education programs within the California State University system or the University of California, including prioritization of programs that serve an area of demonstrated maternity or midwifery workforce need.

(b)The department shall ensure that a master’s degree is an option for students as the culminating degree of the education programs receiving funds.

(c)The education programs shall meet the regulatory requirements for nurse-midwifery education in California and the necessary requirements to be accredited or preaccredited by the Accreditation Commission for

Midwifery Education. The programs are not required to be located within a school of nursing.

(d)The fund shall support the annual operating costs for the development, operation, and maintenance of the education programs through the graduation of the first cohort of matriculated students, or five years, whichever is shorter.

§ 128572

Added by Stats. 2025, Ch. 601, Sec. 2. (SB 520) Effective January 1, 2026.

Any funds, public or private, received for the fund shall supplement, not supplant, any current or future funding to midwifery workforce education programs, including allocations to midwifery education programs administered through the Song-Brown Health Care Workforce Training Act pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with Section 128200) of Chapter 4. Any funds allocated to the education programs receiving funds shall supplement, not supplant, the university’s budget allocations for any fiscal year.