BySenate Health & Long Term Care (originally sponsored by Senators Frame, Rivers, Shewmake, Trudeau, Lovelett, Dhingra, Hasegawa, Kuderer, Liias, Nobles, Valdez, and C. Wilson)

AN ACT Relating to screening newborn infants for congenital cytomegalovirus; adding a new section to chapter 43.70 RCW; creating a new section; and providing an expiration date.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. (1) The state board of health shall consider whether or not to add congenital cytomegalovirus screening to the mandatory screening panel as required by RCW 70.83.020. The state board of health shall submit to the governor and relevant committees of the legislature a report no later than December 31, 2025, and include a summary of the evaluation conducted in this section and the findings and recommendations on the addition of congenital cytomegalovirus screening to the mandatory newborn screening panel.

Subject to amounts appropriated specifically for this purpose, the department shall develop and make available educational resources for pregnant individuals about the nature and consequences of in utero exposure to cytomegalovirus and strategies to reduce the transmission of cytomegalovirus. The educational resources may include, but are not limited to, courses delivered in-person or electronically, pamphlets printed on paper and distributed through the watch me grow program, social media content, or made available on the department's website. The department shall also provide educational materials and outreach for providers regarding the strategies to reduce transmission of cytomegalovirus. The educational materials are intended to lower cytomegalovirus infection rates among pregnant individuals to save lives and prevent disability in their unborn children.