AN ACT DIRECTING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, IN CONSULTATION WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF MILITARY AND VETERANS AFFAIRS, TO STUDY health ISSUES AFFECTING WOMEN WHO SERVE IN THE MILITARY.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.(a)  The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) shall study the following issues affecting women who serve in the military:

(1)        Coordinating effectively between veterans health care facilities and non‑veterans health care facilities in the delivery of maternity care and other health care services.

(2)        Facilitating access to community resources to address social determinants of health, including housing, nutrition, and employment status.

(3)        Identifying mental and behavioral health risk factors in the prenatal and postpartum periods and ensuring that pregnant and postpartum veterans get the treatments they need.

(4)        Facilitating access to childbirth preparation classes, parenting classes, nutrition counseling, breastfeeding support, lactation classes, and breast pumps.

(5)        Reducing maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity, with a particular focus on racial and ethnic disparities in maternal health outcomes.

SECTION 1.(b)  In conducting the study required by subsection (a) of this section, the Department of Health and Human Services shall solicit feedback from mothers who are currently serving, or who formerly served, in the military. In addition, the DHHS shall consult with the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs (DMVA), as necessary. The DMVA shall cooperate with the DHHS and provide any assistance or information requested with respect to the study required by subsection (a) of this section.

SECTION 1.(c)  By April 1, 2024, the DHHS shall report its findings, and any recommendations for legislation, to the Senate Health Care Committee, the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on Health and Human Services, the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on General Government, and the Fiscal Research Division.

SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services the sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2023‑2024 fiscal year for the purpose of conducting the study described in Section 1 of this act.

SECTION 3.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2023.