Includes whereas clauses.

Part I.

Requires the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to establish and operate a Maternal Mortality Prevention Grant Program (grant program) to award grants to eligible entities to establish or expand programs for the prevention of maternal mortality and severe maternal morbidity among black women. Requires applicants to be community-based organizations offering programs and resources aligned with evidence-based practices for improving maternal health outcomes for black women. Requires DHHS, beginning July 1, 2025, to conduct outreach to encourage eligible applicants to apply and provide application assistance. Awards grants with amounts ranging from $10,000 to $50,000. Sets out criteria to be considered when awarding the grants. Sets out the types of technical assistance DHHS must provide. Requires DHHS to report to the specified NCGA committee and division by October 1, 2026, and October 1, 2027; sets out issues to be addressed in the report.

Appropriates the following from the General Fund to DHHS, Division of Public Health, for each year of the 2025-27 biennium: (1) $93,513 in nonrecurring funds to establish a time limited, full-time Public Health Program Coordinator IV position to provide application assistance and technical assistance to recipients, and prepare the required report and (2) $4, 906,487 in nonrecurring funds to be allocated to the Maternal Mortality Prevention Grant Program. Allows up to 1% of these funds to be used for administrative purposes related to the grant program. Authorizes DHHS to hire one full-time, time-limited Public Health Program Coordinator IV position. Effective July 1, 2025.

Part II.

Enacts new GS 130A-33.62, providing as follows. Requires DHHS, in collaboration with (1) community-based organizations led by black women that serve primarily black birthing people and (2) a historically black college or university or other institution that primarily serves minority populations to create or identify an evidence-based implicit bias training program (training program) for health care professionals involved in perinatal care (the provision of care during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum and neonatal periods). Sets out 12 minimum components of the training program, including identification of previous or current unconscious biases and misinformation; identification of personal, interpersonal, institutional, structural, and cultural barriers to inclusion; corrective measures to decrease implicit bias at the interpersonal and institutional levels; and information about how to communicate more effectively across identities. Requires all health care professionals to complete the training program, specifying deadlines for completion depending on whether the individual is licensed before or after January 1, 2026. Requires proof of completion for license/registration/accreditation/certification renewal. Defines a health care professional as a licensed physician or other health care provider licensed, registered, accredited, or certified to perform perinatal care and regulated under the authority of a health care professional licensing authority. Encourages DHHS to seek opportunities to make the training program available to all health care professions and to promote its use among four specified types of providers and programs. Requires DHHS to collect specified information related to maternal mortality to inform ongoing improvements to the training program.

Enacts GS 130A-33.63 specifying that a patient getting care at a perinatal care facility (a hospital, clinic, or birthing center providing perinatal care in the state) has six listed rights, including: to be informed of continuing health care requirements following discharge; to actively participate in decisions regarding the patient's medical care and the right to refuse treatment; and to receive care and treatment free from discrimination on the basis of age, race, ethnicity, color, religion, ancestry, disability, medical condition, genetic  information, marital status, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, citizenship, nationality, immigration status, primary language, or language proficiency. Requires perinatal care facilities to provide patients upon admission with a written copy of the rights.

Effective October 1, 2025.

Appropriates $2.5 million in recurring funds for each year of the 2025-27 biennium from the General Fund to DHHS, Division of Public Health, to establish and administer the training. Effective July 1, 2025.

Part III.

Appropriates $3 million for each year of the 2025-27 biennium from the General Fund to the UNC Board of Governors for recruiting, training, and retaining a diverse workforce of lactation consultants in North Carolina by supporting the infrastructure and sustainability of lactation consultant training programs at Historically Black Colleges and Universities located within the State, to be distributed equally between Bennett College, Fayetteville State University, Johnson C. Smith University, North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University, and North Carolina Central University to cover costs of administering a lactation training program, including specified costs that include student aid. Requires DHHS to give technical assistance to those schools concerning developing training content, recruitment from historically marginalized populations to enroll, recruitment of historically underutilized providers to serve as teachers and preceptors, and identifying rural and medically underserved areas of the State experiencing a shortage of lactation consultants in order to recruit program graduates to work in these areas. Requires a report by May 1, 2028, to the specified NCGA committees on the benefits the state received due to the funding of the training programs. Sets out items that must be included in the report. Effective July 1, 2025.

Part IV.

Requires DHHS to establish a Perinatal Education Grant Program awarding competitive grants to eligible entities to establish or expand perinatal education programs in rural, underserved, or low-wealth areas of the State. Defines perinatal education program as one that operates for the primary purpose of educating pregnant women and their families about healthy pregnancy, preparation for labor and birth, breast feeding, newborn care, or any combination of these. Requires applicants to be community-based organizations that offer perinatal education and resources aligned with evidence-based practices for improving maternal health outcomes for black women. Requires DHHS to conduct outreach and application assistance beginning September 1, 2025. Requires outreach to give special consideration to eligible applicants who: (1) are based in, and provide support for, communities with high rates of adverse maternal health outcomes and significant racial and ethnic disparities in maternal health outcomes; (2) are led by black women; and (3) offer programs and resources that are aligned with evidence-based practices for improving maternal health outcomes for black women.

Requires individual grants to be no less than $10,000 or more than $50,000. Terminates the program on June 30, 2027. Requires DHHS to submit a report to the specified NCGA committee and division by October 1, 2028, on the specified information. Appropriates $3 million for each year of the 2025-27 fiscal biennium from the General Fund to DHHS for this grant program; allows DHHS to use up to 5% of these funds for administrative purposes. Effective July 1, 2025.

Part V.

Appropriates $6.5 million for each year of the 2025-27 biennium from the General Fund to DHHS, Division of Public Health (DPH) to create a Momni-Bus Initiative to fund efforts to expand access to maternal and infant health care and parenting programs, supports, and services to families residing in geographic areas of the State where there is limited or no access to maternity care services, including obstetric providers, a hospital or birth center, prenatal care, or postpartum care. Requires funds to be allocated in specified amounts for (1) a directed grant to the March of Dimes, Inc., and (2) for directed grants on a competitive basis to nonprofit, community-based, and faith-based organizations that offer programs, supports, and services aligned with evidence-based practices for a healthy pregnancy through the postpartum period, infant health and care, and parenting programs, supports, and services. Requires DPH to report to the specified NCGA committee and division by October 1, 2027, and October 1, 2028, on the grants that were awarded. Effective July 1, 2025.