DiDomenico filed legislation to provide basic benefits to legally present immigrants

CHELSEA – Last week, Senator Sal DiDomenico joined La Colaborativa, The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, and Representative Judith Garcia to launch the Feeding Our Neighbors campaign. The campaign’s purpose is twofold: to raise awareness to the plight of the immigrant community who lack access to basic needs and benefits, and to highlight the need for both legislation (which Senator DiDomenico filed alongside Rep. Garcia and Rep. Cabral) and funding to restore basic food and cash assistance benefits for legally present immigrants.

This legislation would enable the Commonwealth to provide legally present immigrants, who are ineligible for federal programs, with access to both state-funded supplemental food (SNAP) and, for families with minor children, cash assistance benefits.

“I am proud of the legislation we filed, and it will be a top priority of mine this session,” said State Senator Sal DiDomenico. “This bill will help set a higher standard in Massachusetts, and for the entire country, when it comes to supporting and respecting immigrants living in our neighborhoods. I am looking forward to working with my colleagues and community leaders to advance this legislation.”

The campaign launch event was held at La Colaborativa’s Food Pantry at 63 Sixth Street in Chelsea. La Colaborativa distributes emergency food to roughly 5,000 families each week from Chelsea and surrounding communities.

"Our organization has been at the forefront of the challenges our families face pre- and post-pandemic. At the top of the list of needs is food insecurity, which comes to no surprise as most of our community members serve our state as essential workers and were drastically impacted economically," said Gladys Vega, Executive Director of La Colaborativa. "We see hundreds of families form our food lines for hours on a weekly basis and it's only getting worse."

Over 25 years ago, the 1996 Welfare Reform Law slashed core food and cash assistance benefits to thousands of legally present immigrants across the nation -- including victims of violence, “Dreamers,” immigrants with pending asylum, and immigrants with Temporary Protected Status. The bulk of immigrants are working low-wage jobs, but are unable to meet their basic food needs for their families. In 1997, the Massachusetts Legislature authorized basic cash and food assistance for needy immigrants, but the benefits ended in 2002. Six states in the nation currently provide state-funded benefits to eligible immigrants, including California, Connecticut, Maine, Minnesota and Washington State.

The Feeding Our Neighbors campaign comes at a critical time. During the summer of 2022, more than 2,000 individuals arrived in Massachusetts, double the number who arrived a year earlier. That trend is expected to continue as numerous global economic challenges and political conflicts force more people to flee their home countries. The legislation will provide a framework for critical basic needs to help these individuals acclimate to their new surroundings and provide supplemental nutrition benefits to their low-wage earnings as well as help other immigrant families who are continuing to struggle economically since the onset of Covid.

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President Biden highlighted the tax credit’s importance in State of the Union speech 

BOSTON – This session, Senator Sal DiDomenico has sponsored a bill that would create a Child and Family Tax Credit (CFTC) in Massachusetts. This topic is all over the national news after President Joe Biden used his State of the Union address to speak about the monumental benefits of the federal Child Tax Credit and the need to reinstate it across the country. DiDomenico is leading the charge to re-establish a similar kind of family tax credit in Massachusetts with his bill so we can provide more financial support to families throughout the Commonwealth.

DiDomenico’s Child and Family Tax Credit (CFTC) bill would benefit children by simplifying the family tax credit process and increasing benefits for families that need support. This legislation would combine the existing Household Dependent Tax Credit and Dependent Care Tax Credit into a single credit (a CFTC), increasing the value to at least $600 per dependent child.

“I agree wholeheartedly with the President that we need to bring this tax credit back and I am proud to sponsor legislation that would establish a similar child and family tax credit in Massachusetts,” said Senator DiDomenico, Assistant Majority Leader of the Massachusetts Senate. “Low-income parents and children were some of the hardest hit individuals during the pandemic, and we saw how much the federal tax credit helped to slash child poverty and improve our residents’ lives. We must do everything we can to bring this program back to our state and across the country.”

The 2021 federal tax credit sent a monthly check to parents with young children that provided them with an economic cushion and helped cut the child poverty rate by nearly half in 2021.

"Extend the child tax credit, so no one has to raise a family in poverty," said President Biden during his State of the Union speech in Congress.

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DiDomenico also named Chair of Bills in Third Reading and Vice Chair of Education

BOSTON – Last week, Senator Sal DiDomenico was appointed, once again, to Senate President Karen Spilka’s leadership team as Assistant Majority Leader. This will mark the third consecutive legislative session that Senator DiDomenico will serve in that leadership position.

DiDomenico was also appointed Chair of the Bills in Third Reading Committee, Vice Chair of the Education Committee, and member of the Labor and Workforce Development Committee, Steering and Policy Committee, Intergovernmental Affairs Committee, Personnel and Administration Committee, and State Administration and Regulatory Oversight Committee.

“I am proud to continue my tenure in Senate President Karen Spilka’s leadership team as Assistant Majority Leader,” said State Senator Sal DiDomenico. “Thank you to Senate President Spilka for your trust, confidence and friendship. I look forward to working with all of my colleagues this session to move our Commonwealth forward.”

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