Access to Donor Milk Act of 2026
HB8545, the Access to Donor Milk Act of 2026, is a federal bill aimed at protecting and expanding access to pasteurized donor human milk and related donor milk-derived products. It defines key terms such as donor human milk, donor human milk banks, and nonprofit donor human milk banks, and it directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to support donor milk activities through existing child nutrition programs. The bill also authorizes competitive grants to nonprofit milk banks to expand emergency capacity when demand spikes, supplies are short, or a disaster or public health emergency creates a need.
The bill further requires HHS to launch a public awareness campaign about the benefits and safety of donor human milk, with educational materials targeted to clinicians, expectant and new parents, and community organizations, including families participating in WIC. In addition, HHS must convene a public meeting and issue draft guidance establishing minimum safety standards for the collection, screening, testing, pasteurization, storage, handling, and transfer of donor human milk and donor milk-derived products. The bill authorizes $3 million for fiscal year 2026 and such sums as may be necessary thereafter for the emergency capacity grants.
If enacted, the bill would amend the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to explicitly allow certain federal nutrition funds to support donor human milk activities, including collection and transfer of unprocessed milk to nonprofit donor milk banks. It would also create a new federal grant program administered by HHS for nonprofit milk banks, establish a federal public education effort, and require HHS to develop safety guidance that could shape national standards for donor milk handling and processing. The bill would affect nonprofit milk banks, health care providers, families of high-risk infants, and state agencies involved in milk collection and storage.
There is no recorded committee transcript or vote history in the provided materials, so no formal legislative debate or roll-call sentiment is available. Based on the bill’s sponsors and structure, the measure appears to be framed as a bipartisan public health and infant nutrition initiative, with emphasis on safety, emergency preparedness, and access for vulnerable infants. The absence of opposition in the provided record suggests the bill was at least introduced in a generally supportive context, but no definitive conclusion can be drawn about broader legislative sentiment.
The main areas likely to draw scrutiny are the federal role in setting safety standards, the scope of HHS authority, and how donor human milk banks—especially nonprofit banks—would qualify for grants and comply with new guidance. Another possible point of contention is the interaction with state law and existing milk bank practices, since the bill requires compliance with both federal and state law while also creating federal standards and programs. Questions could also arise about funding levels, whether the $3 million authorization is sufficient, and whether public funds should support donor milk activities that may already be handled by private or nonprofit networks.