DiDomenico and Decker Testify on Landmark Anti-Poverty Omnibus Legislation
The omnibus bill’s public hearing will highlight its focus on putting cash in people’s pockets, empowering workers, and fostering wealth building
BOSTON – Senator Sal N. DiDomenico and Representative Marjorie C. Decker testified before the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities on their legislation, An Act significantly alleviating poverty (S.3095/H.5085), otherwise known as the ASAP Act. The ASAP Act is comprised of a variety of policies that will lift up working families and individuals across the state by putting cash in their pockets, expanding their employment rights, and providing meaningful wealth building opportunities.
This bill is being heard amid the federal government’s unprecedented attacks on working people as they pull funding from safety net programs, strip away worker rights, and target our most vulnerable immigrant neighbors. The ASAP Act meets this precarious moment by ensuring our state steps up to invest in protecting our communities. As Co-Chairs of the Massachusetts Poverty Commission, DiDomenico’s and Decker’s efforts to pull this comprehensive legislative proposal together were informed by the Commissioners’ recommendations and by testimony provided by advocates and individuals with lived experience in poverty at a series of public hearings across the state.
“As the federal government attacks the social safety net for our poorest residents, this ambitious bill would fill the gaps to protect our neighbors in need and make transformational investments that will set working people up for a lifetime of economic security,” said Senator Sal N. DiDomenico. “This commonsense legislation employs evidence-based policies that will create a new paradigm of economic justice in our state and improve the lives of residents in every zip code throughout the Commonwealth. It is a privilege to advocate for this bill alongside my friend and colleague, Rep. Marjorie Decker, and I am excited to fight for this historic investment that will ensure all our community members can access nutritious foods, live in a safe home, earn a stable income, and build wealth for themselves and their families.”
"The most important role we have in government is to make people's lives better. From the testimony on this bill and what people are experiencing throughout the Commonwealth, we know that food insecurity is at an all-time high and that we are facing a housing crisis in one of the most expensive states in the nation," Decker said. "The ASAP Act offers a roadmap and an opportunity to do what we were elected to do. The state is already spending those dollars — the question is how we choose to spend them. This bill allows us to be more intentional about acting across the interconnected systems that create and sustain poverty so that we can meaningfully improve the lives of people in Massachusetts. It is far more cost effective to be intentional than reactive."
The legislation focuses on three main policy levers that can lift Massachusetts residents out of poverty: direct cash benefits, worker rights and wages, and wealth building opportunities.
Putting Cash in People’s Pockets
Creating and expanding cash benefit programs for low-income residents:
Lifting Our Families out of Deep Poverty (S.118/H.214): increasing the Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC) cash benefits for pregnant individuals, families and caregivers, and increasing the Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled and Children (EAEDC) cash benefits until every eligible person is lifted out of deep poverty (under 50% of the federal poverty line).
Protecting Maternal Health (S.171/H.272): guaranteeing that all pregnant people can access TAFDC cash benefits from the moment they know about their pregnancy.
Codifying TAFDC Clothing and Rental Allowances: ensuring that eligible parents and pregnant people can access $50 per month in rental assistance and the annual $500 clothing allowance for their children.
Codifying EAEDC Rental Allowance: guaranteeing that eligible elderly, disabled, and child residents can access the $50 per month rental assistance every year.
Updating child support policies (S.110/H.201): prohibiting the government from taking any amount of child support payments from low-income parents, and giving parents receiving assistance the ability to decide not to pursue child support if it could be unsafe or destabilizing for them or their children.
Enhancing Tax Credits (S.1957/H.3073): increasing Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) benefits for low-income workers and increasing the state’s Child and Family Tax Credit (CFTC) for eligible parents and caretakers. This provision will also expand EITC eligibility to low-income workers of all ages, legal residents, workers with large families, and all children up to age 18.
Establishing a Guaranteed Income Pilot (S.161): creating a cash stipend of $1,000 per month for 5 years to any individual transitioning out of foster care between the ages of 18-23.
Replacing Stolen Food Assistance Benefits (S.147/H.254): directing the state to replace Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) cash benefits stolen by criminal rings through skimming or phishing.
Improving Language Access (S.2125/H.3384): requiring all public-facing state government agencies, and the outside service providers they rely on, to offer interpretation services and translate vital documents for non-English speakers. This will ensure all residents, regardless of the language(s) they speak, can better access the public services they need, including cash benefits and unemployment assistance.
Providing Menstrual Products (S.1549/H.2483): ensuring and expanding access to free menstrual products, without stigma, to all menstruating individuals in all public schools, homeless shelters, prisons, and county jails.
Protecting and Empowering Workers
Safeguarding and increasing wages for workers and empowering job applicants:
Protecting Workers’ Wages (S.1300/H.2094): enhancing the Attorney General’s ability to ensure companies pay their employees the wages they deserve and hold employers accountable when they steal workers’ wages, ensuring workers have remedies and relief when experiencing employer retaliation, and empowering workers to fight wage theft.
Streamlining Automatic Record Sealing (S.1114/H.1811): creating an automated record sealing process so that individuals with eligible past offenses who have served their time can find a job and access housing swiftly and without stigma.
Eliminating Subminimum Wage for Farmworkers (S.2012/H.2108): raising farmworker wages from $8 per hour to at least the Massachusetts minimum wage, which is currently $15 per hour.
Eliminating Subminimum Wage for People with Disabilities: prohibiting employers’ ability to pay a subminimum wage to individuals with disabilities and ensure these workers earn at least the Massachusetts minimum wage, which is currently $15 per hour.
Building Wealth
Guaranteeing every resident has the opportunity to accumulate assets and build financial security for themselves and their families:
Establishing a Baby Bonds Program (S.2146/H.3429): creating a trust fund for eligible children that can be used after turning 18 to pursue wealth building ventures like seeking more education, buying a house, or starting a business. Children who are born into families with low income or are in the state child welfare system will be eligible for this wealth building savings account seeded by the state.
Creating a Matched Savings Program (S.737/H.1158): establishing a state funded matched savings program, which will be available to people who are below 80% area median income. Participants will be entered into a program where they can receive financial education coaching and an account that will provide $4 in matching funds from the state for every $1 they save. Graduates of the program can use their savings on a wide range of wealth building activities, such as a down payment on a home, higher education for themselves or a dependent, and purchasing a car or other forms of transportation.
Building Community Wealth through the ENOUGH Act (S.3022/H.5187): implementing an innovative strategy to fight poverty by investing resources in high need neighborhoods and collaborating with community residents to help drive decisions that will ensure investments increase economic mobility.
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