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Rep. Lisa Reynolds outlines "momnibus" priorities: housing, child poverty, behavioral health and perinatal workforce
Summary
Representative Lisa Reynolds described a maternal‑child package for 2025 she calls the "momnibus," centering four priorities — targeted housing supports, ending child poverty (including pilots), expanded behavioral health access, and a larger perinatal/community health workforce — and urged coordinated implementation across agencies and hubs.
Representative Lisa Reynolds told the Early Learning Council she is advancing a maternal‑child legislative concept — often referred to in her remarks as the "momnibus" — that focuses on prenatal to the first year of life with four priorities: housing supports for pregnant people and parents of infants, ending child poverty, improving access to behavioral health, and expanding the perinatal workforce. "We are not talking about anything new," Reynolds said. "We are talking about maybe reallocating or rethinking how we prioritize state resources."
Reynolds described possible funding strategies that would braid federal (including HUD) funding with state resources and use the 1115 Medicaid demonstration waiver to pilot housing supports such as up to six months of rent assistance targeted to pregnant people and families with infants. She highlighted the OASIS program in Medford as a local model that blends clinical care, onsite child care and adjacent housing for parents entering residential treatment. "If we could surround families — pregnant people and parents — with everything they need, we will see amazing improvement in early relational health," she said.
On child‑poverty interventions, Reynolds said proposals could include means‑tested basic income pilots and leveraging Medicaid postpartum coverage (noting a broader national trend toward year‑long postpartum coverage). She emphasized implementation questions and the need for strong communication and coordination with OHA, ODHS and community partners. Council members raised rural access, childcare and workforce concerns during the Q&A; Reynolds said stakeholder roundtables are ongoing and that hubs and pilots will be important to test what works locally.
