Last week, Governor Hochul announced a suite of proposed measures aimed at addressing rising maternal and infant mortality rates. As is relevant to New York employers, this includes a proposed expansion of New York State Paid Family Leave to include 40 hours of paid leave to attend prenatal medical appointments. If signed into law, this would make New York the first state in the country to provide paid prenatal care leave. 

Governor Hochul also announced forthcoming legislation that would expand access to doula care and eliminate copays and other out of pocket costs for certain maternal and infant health care, likely impacting employee insurance coverage.

We will continue to monitor for updates on these proposed initiatives.