BOSTON – May 4, 2017 – Members of the Campaign to Lift the Cap on Kids today hosted Diaper Day at the State House together with Senator Sal DiDomenico, Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Ways & Means and the lead Senate sponsor of the bill to lift the cap on kids, and Representative Marjorie Decker, the lead House sponsor of the bill. The event is part of the ongoing effort to raise awareness about the need to Lift the Cap on Kids.

The Cap on Kids – also called the “family cap” -- denies welfare benefits to children conceived while – or soon after – the family began receiving benefits. As a result of the Cap on Kids, Massachusetts does not provide benefits for 9,000 children living in deep poverty. Their parents struggle to provide even the most basic essentials for their children including diapers to keep their babies dry, safe, and healthy.

“No parent should have to struggle to provide their child with basic essentials like food and diapers,” said Senator Sal DiDomenico. “But, for families living in poverty, these can be very real choices they face every day. Lifting the Cap on Kids is simply the right thing to do to ensure that no family is denied basic benefits simply because of when their children were born.” 

The Campaign to Lift the Cap on Kids has been collecting donated diapers for the event to demonstrate this harsh policy’s impact. All of the donated diapers will go to Horizons for Homeless Children, which will use them for the children they serve, distributing them to families in need. 

“Government creates laws that help people- it’s our job to ensure that laws and regulations in place cause no harm. It’s time to acknowledge that this law clearly does not help families, but hurts them,” said Representative Marjorie Decker. “I look forward to the legislature having the opportunity to reverse this law and help more families move forward.”

“We are grateful to Senator DiDomenico and Representative Decker for leading the way to reverse this harsh policy,” said Deborah Harris, of Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, on behalf of the Campaign to Lift the Cap on Kids.

“Parents should never have to choose between buying diapers and paying the electric bill,” said Naomi Meyer, Greater Boston Legal Services, on behalf of the Campaign to Lift the Cap on Kids.

Massachusetts is only one of 17 states - including Arkansas, Mississippi, and North Carolina – that still has a Cap on Kids. Savings from the decline in the Massachusetts welfare caseload provide an opportunity to lift the Cap on Kids without increasing spending.

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BOSTON- Senator Sal DiDomenico recently joined the Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, Massachusetts AFL-CIO President Steve Tolman, representatives from Community Labor United, Greater Boston Labor Council, and the Massachusetts Building Trades Council, as well as workers from throughout the Commonwealth at a press conference in support of S.999/H.1033, An Act to prevent wage theft and promote employer accountability. DiDomenico is the Senate sponsor of this bill that seeks to prevent wage law violations by allowing the issuance of stop-work orders until wage violations are corrected and giving the Attorney General's Office the power to bring wage theft cases to court for civil damages.

Wage theft- the illegal practice of not paying employees for all of their work through means such as violating minimum wage laws, not paying overtime, or forcing workers to work off the clock- has become a pervasive problem throughout the Massachusetts economy and across the nation. Many workers who are by all definitions employees are often misclassified as “independent contractors,” thereby cheating them out of minimum or prevailing wages, and leaving them on the hook for medical costs if they are injured on the job.  Furthermore, employers may undermine legitimate businesses by avoiding taxes and not paying into critical safety nets for workers, putting an unfair burden on the Commonwealth when workers have a legitimate right to utilize these programs. As a result of wage theft, approximately $700 million is stolen from workers each year in Massachusetts.

Last year, DiDomenico’s bill passed the Senate on a near-unanimous vote. At the press conference, Senator DiDomenico told those in attendance that he would continue working to move this bill forward and called on them to continue fighting to secure final passage of the bill this legislative session. "Let's get this done this year, move forward and treat people fairly in this state and across the country," DiDomenico said.

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BOSTON- Senator Sal DiDomenico (D-Everett), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, will be heading to Washington D.C. this week with his Senate colleagues and staff to gather information on the future of the federal budget and to advocate against potential spending cuts that will have a negative impact on the Commonwealth. The trip will take place from April 25-27th and he will be joined by Senator Linda Dorcena Forry (D-Boston), Vice Chair of the Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs, Senator Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton), Senator Adam Hinds (D-Pittsfield), Senator Joe Boncore (D-Winthrop) and Senator Julian Cyr (D-Truro).

The Senate Committee on Intergovernmental Affairs was created with the mission of identifying federal funding opportunities for the Commonwealth and fostering a strong partnership between the Legislature and the federal government. Previously, the primary focus of this Committee was to identify ways in which the Commonwealth could maximize our federal resources by expanding our application to grants and other funding sources that benefit our constituents.

While this is still a priority for the Committee, in light of the new Administration’s budget and policy proposals, it appears that Massachusetts may be at risk of losing vital federal dollars that our state budget relies on. Massachusetts currently receives about $11 billion in federal revenue annually, accounting for approximately one quarter of the state’s budget. Under President Trump’s budget proposals, Massachusetts is at risk of losing between $1-2 billion dollars.

“These proposed cuts would devastate our state's budget and harm working families throughout the Commonwealth, which is why we are traveling to our Nation’s Capital to meet with our delegation, federal agencies, and national policy organizations to receive as much information as possible about how we can protect Massachusetts moving forward,” said Senator DiDomenico.

The group plans to meet with the members of Massachusetts' congressional delegation and has also set up meetings with federal officials in agencies including the Department of Transportation, Department of Education, Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the Department of Health and Human Services, including the Office of Head Start. They have also organized meetings with the National Conference of State Legislatures and other national policy organizations.

“Massachusetts is very fortunate to have national leaders and great partners in our Congressional delegation, and we look forward to joining them as we put a state's perspective on these proposed cuts and policy changes,” said DiDomenico. “We will return home with knowledge that will help us as we finalize our own state budget, and make important policy decisions in the current legislative session.”

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