State Policy Impacts on Family Resources: Tools to Improve Policy Analysis

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Abstract

State policy choices impact the level of resources available to families to support their children. Variation across states and within states over time in investments in social programs is substantial. For example, 13 states have a paid family and medical leave program; 23 states increased their state minimum wage in 2026 – the increase was $0.28 in Minnesota and $2.00 in Hawaii; and 24 states have a refundable state earned income tax credit ranging from 4% to 85% of the federal credit, with several states increasing their rates this year, whereas others decreased theirs. This variation creates a complex policy landscape for families to navigate and contributes to substantial geographic inequities in the resources available to support children and families. However, differences in policy adoption, generosity, and implementation across states and over time create valuable opportunities for researchers to identify the causal effects of state policies on child and family outcomes. Systematically tracking these changes and translating them into measures for research is challenging. This session introduces several resources available that can support causal research on the impacts of state policies on child and family wellbeing. Presenters will demonstrate how to use these tools, highlight the research questions they can help address, and explain how attendees can access and incorporate them into their own analyses. The Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center offers two resources to support researchers:The Policy Tracking System (PTS) and the Policy Impact Calculator (PIC). The PTS provides detailed information on each states’ policy change by year. The system has complete information on state paid family and medical leave policies, as well as child care subsidies, tax credits, and minimum wages. The Policy Impact Calculator (PIC) is an interactive tool that estimates the combined effects of state and federal policies on the economic resources available to families with young children. By accounting for interactions between minimum wages, paid family and medical leave, child care subsidies, federal and state taxes and tax credits, and nutrition assistance programs, the PIC allows researchers to examine how policy choices translate into differences in family resources across states and over time, as well as simulate how proposed policy changes could affect the economic resources available to families. The State Safety Net Interactive (https://www.brookings.edu/articles/state-safety-net-interactive-2026/) shows potential benefits (TANF, SSI, tax credits SNAP) and eligibility (Medicaid)  for a fixed representative group of families for each state 2001-2024, taking into account interactions across programs. Users can separately look at benefits for married, partnered, and single families, and families with and without a disabled member.

The Urban Institute houses several tools that help researchers track state-level policies and see the state-level eligibility rates that derive in part from state-level choices.  The Welfare Rules Database (WRD) and the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) Policies Database provide detailed information on hundreds of policy choices that states make in providing benefits under their Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and CCDF block grant funds, respectively.  These longitudinal, government-funded databases combine the efforts of project staff who ensure that concepts are coded consistently across states and across time with the invaluable contributions of state administrators who review the information each year to ensure that written materials have been interpreted correctly.  Urban’s new State of the Safety Net webtool is the first-ever source of state-by-state program eligibility and participation rate estimates across multiple programs and with detail by demographic subgroups.  The eligibility estimates are all derived with the same approach--applying Urban’s ATTIS microsimulation model to American Community Survey data--ensuring comparability. The State of the Safety Net (SoSN) website also holds “what if” simulation results—currently showing how poverty could be reduced with full funding and participation across programs, and with more options planned.  The SoSN team welcomes input on enhancements to the tool and on the most impactful what-if options, to guide next year’s update.

Policy Area

• Family and Child Policy

Moderator

• Cynthia Osborne, Vanderbilt University

Organizer

• Leslie Ofori, Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management

Speakers

• Tara Watson, Brookings Institution

• Max Ghenis, PolicyEngine

• Linda Giannarelli, Urban Institute