Having trouble viewing this email? View it in your web browser

New Videos! PPC Staff Discuss Key Investments We’re Advocating for in the 2021-22 State Budget

In the months since Gov. Wolf’s budget proposal in February, PPC staff have been working with policymakers and our partners across several statewide advocacy coalitions to ensure the FY 2021-22 state budget includes investments in programs that we know help children and families. These include high-quality child care and pre-k, evidence-based home visiting, and career and technical education.

With the June 30^th deadline just four weeks away, we’re pleased to share informative summaries of how PPC is working to build better futures for kids in the state budget, brought to you by members of our team!

The House and Senate are in session for the next month until the budget passes, so stay tuned for further updates from PPC on the latest activity in Harrisburg.

Thriving PA Releases WIC Policy Brief with Recommendations on How to Boost WIC Participation 

Through Thriving PA’s work related to the Women, Infants, and Children Program (WIC), advocates – led by Allies for Children – developed a policy brief that provides recommendations to policymakers and the Department of Health on improvements to reverse the declining participation in the WIC participation in the state. From 2016 to 2020, WIC enrollment declined by 21% or 50,000 enrollees in Pennsylvania. Continued declines in enrollment impact the amount of federal funding the program receives, thus creating fewer resources for WIC agencies to engage and serve eligible participants.

Some of the recommendations in the brief include:

• Technology improvements, including making permanent the benefits seen from implementing telehealth provisions through the pandemic and developing a mobile app.
• Coordination and partnerships through strategies like co-location of WIC clinics with other critical services like birthing hospitals and health clinics and implementing adjunctive eligibility – which streamlines the eligibility process when a family is already eligible for benefits like Medicaid or SNAP.
• Certification, eligibility, and targeted outreach efforts, including looking at policies included in current federal legislation to extend postpartum eligibility to two years and extending infant certification periods for two-year spans.

Along with our partner advocates in the Thriving PA campaign, we look forward to working with the Department of Health and policymakers at the state and federal levels to increase WIC participation in Pennsylvania and provide women, infants, and children opportunities for healthy nutrition.

Update on Pennsylvania Childhood Immunization Data Released from PA DOH

The Pennsylvania Department of Health released new data showing the trend analysis in routine childhood immunizations during the 2020 calendar year, and the first few months of 2021. While it appears the 2020 rates are showing a rebound compared to prior years, for the available dataset PPC is analyzing what this means for making sure kids are fully caught up on their routine vaccinations since we first reported a downward trend last year.

We’re also reviewing the data from the first part of 2021 showing a decline in immunizations for some age groups, particularly children ages 4-10. That could reflect national trends where pediatric visits declined towards the end of 2020, ending up well below baseline heading into the early part of 2021.

As a reminder, with the recent CDC approval for children aged 12-15 to receive the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine, the CDC also issued guidance that it may be co-administered with other important adolescent vaccinations without regard to timing (i.e., waiting 14 days before or after administration of a vaccine).

More to come as PPC examines this issue further with expert partners.

Legislature Moves to Amend COVID-19 Emergency Declaration

A majority of Pennsylvanians who voted in the May primary election approved four proposed constitutional amendments, two of which transfer from the governor to the General Assembly the authority to limit or terminate disaster declarations. The election results must be certified before amending the state constitution, but the House of Representatives has already taken the first steps to end the state’s COVID-19 disaster declaration.

House Majority Leader Kerry Benninghoff (R-Centre) introduced HR 106 on May 24^th that would:

• End the administration’s ability to engage in no-bid, single-source contracting.
• Re-establish mandatory work search requirements for unemployment compensation.
• End the governor’s ability to mandate occupancy limits, business closures, and stay-at-home orders due to the pandemic.

The resolution did extend all other elements of the disaster declaration not repealed in the bill until October 1st. The resolution was voted out of the House State Government Committee on a party-line vote on Tuesday, May 25^th (the day after its introduction and one week after the primary election) and is now on the House floor calendar.

Abruptly ending the COVID-19 disaster declaration has caused some concern. Earlier in the year, the Department of Human Services warned that the commonwealth would not be eligible for emergency federal funding for programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). It is unclear what the final impact would be if HR 106 becomes law. Legislative staff and administration officials are working to determine what steps are needed to ensure Pennsylvania continues to receive federal funding for pandemic-related programs. PPC will keep you informed of any future updates.

Biden Administration Releases Federal Budget Containing American Jobs, Families Plan Provisions

On Friday, May 28^th, President Biden released his FFY 2022 budget plan, coming in at a $6 trillion price tag and covering the elements contained in the previously announced American Jobs Plan and American Families Plan.

Also, on the federal front, a group of Democratic senators – including Pennsylvania Sen. Casey introduced the Building Child Care for a Better Future Act last week. It would provide new, mandatory, permanent federal funding to help child care providers upgrade facilities, fund new child care centers to open, and train and invest in the child care workforce, among other things.