The Texas House Subcommittee on Maternal Health, Menopause, and Access to Evidence-Based Medicine will gavel in at 10 a.m. Nov. 6 in Room E2.030 of the Capitol Extension to hear invited testimony on four sets of interim charges: hormone imbalances and endometriosis, women’s health programs and rural maternity care, newborn insurance enrollment, and parental leave for state employees.
The public will not testify in person, but Texas residents may submit electronic comments on four topics through the House comment portal until the hearing adjourns, according to the official hearing notice.
Rep. Katrina Pierson, R-Rockwall, chairs the three-member panel, according to Texas Legislature Online. The other members are Rep. Liz Campos, D-San Antonio, and Rep. Joanne Shofner, R-Nacogdoches, a two-to-one Republican majority. The subcommittee was appointed Aug. 20 and will meet for a third time this interim, after hearings Sept. 15 and Oct. 5. Its charges are part of a set of six women’s health items that Speaker Dustin Burrows announced Aug. 12, Texas Policy Research reported.
The first charge asks members to study preventive efforts and early detection of hormone imbalances, including baseline reproductive hormone testing, and to study endometriosis as a hormone-related condition, including barriers to timely diagnosis and options for earlier intervention, per the notice. The panel took up baseline testing at its Oct. 5 hearing, where witnesses doubted a single hormone test but urged Texas to study baselines, the Dispatch reported. The Oct. 5 notice listed two charges and did not mention endometriosis, according to the Dispatch’s preview of that hearing.
The second charge directs the panel to evaluate the effectiveness of Healthy Texas Women and related women’s health programs and to find ways to improve services for eligible Texans. The program dominated the subcommittee’s first hearing, when a state Medicaid official acknowledged that fewer women use services than are enrolled, the Dispatch reported. The same charge asks members to review the new Rural Texas Maternal Health Rescue Plan and how its programs could expand maternity care in rural Texas. The notice’s comment list calls the topic the “Rural Texas Maternal Health Assembly,” so the exact title is worth confirming with the clerk. The Texas Tribune reported in December 2024 that rural providers and advocates were urging the Legislature to “rescue” the maternal health care system.
The third charge asks members to review ways to reduce administrative barriers for new parents, including automatic insurance enrollment of newborns. The Legislature has already adjusted the enrollment clock. Senate Bill 896 by Sen. César Blanco, D-El Paso, was signed June 20, 2025, and took effect Sept. 1, 2025. The Senate Research Center analysis says it extends from 31 to 60 days the window for parents to enroll a newborn in employer health plans and requires individual and group plans to cover a newborn for 60 days after birth, applying to plans starting Jan. 1, 2026. The notice does not say what an automatic-enrollment mechanism would look like.
The fourth charge directs members to review parental leave policies for state employees and to consider whether additional leave should be allowed when a newborn is admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit. State law already entitles eligible state employees, those with 12 months of service and 1,250 hours worked, to leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act, and it cross-references a separate paid parental leave provision for certain employees, according to Government Code Section 661.912.
Because this is an interim hearing, the notice lists no vote and no legislation. The notice names no witnesses. What members hear could shape findings and women’s health bills filed for the 90th Legislature, which convenes in January 2027.
Meeting at a glance
- When: 10:00 AM, Friday, November 6, 2026 CT
- Where: Room E2.030, Capitol Extension, Austin
- Chair: Rep. Katrina Pierson, R–Rockwall (HD-33)
- Vice Chair: None designated
- Format: Invited testimony only; no per-witness time limit or written-copy requirement stated in the notice; electronic comments accepted until adjournment on four listed topics; interim charges only — no vote on legislation
- Live video: house.texas.gov/video-audio
- Submit comments online: comments.house.texas.gov/home?c=c413 (until adjournment)
- Full agenda: Official hearing notice (capitol.texas.gov)
Committee members
- Rep. Katrina Pierson, R–Rockwall (HD-33) — Chair
- Rep. Liz Campos, D–San Antonio (HD-119)
- Rep. Joanne W. Shofner, R–Nacogdoches (HD-11)