California lawmakers used an Assembly hearing on Latina inequities and maternal health to hear a concrete update from the Department of Health Care Services: Chris Esgueda told the committee the agency has completed 30 of 42 policies in its birthing-care pathway work and is still advancing postpartum and payment reforms meant to help doulas and community health workers become sustainable parts of care.
The update came during a broader hearing that centered on reproductive justice, maternal health disparities and the long history of sterilization abuse and unequal care affecting Latina, Black and Indigenous women. A summary of the hearing said committee members and presenters linked those disparities to language barriers, immigration fears, underfunded community care and gaps in accountability across the health system. The hearing recording was the public source for the DHCS testimony.
State health officials also described related maternal-health work elsewhere in the administration. The summary of the hearing says the California Department of Public Health outlined the Black Infant Health Program, the Perinatal Equity Initiative and a Black birth equity action plan launched in January 2026. But the clearest implementation update came from DHCS, which said it remains on track to finish the full set of 42 policies and is working through the remaining items.
The hearing record reviewed for this story did not identify which policies remain unfinished, and it was not clear from the material whether lawmakers asked for follow-up reporting, deadlines or oversight on the remaining work.
