Massachusetts FY25 Budget Includes 10% Cash Assistance Increase Starting April 2025
BOSTON, MA (July 29, 2024) – The Massachusetts FY 25 budget includes a 10 percent increase in cash assistance benefits for both TAFDC and EAEDC programs starting April 2025, marking another historic step forward for families in Deep Poverty.
This increase means that the maximum TAFDC grant for a family of three will go from $783/month to $861/month, and the EAEDC grant for an older adult or a person with disabilities will increase from $401/month to $441/month. Even with these increases, grants are still well below half of the federal poverty level – known as the Deep Poverty level – which is $1,076 a month for a family of three in 2024.
MLRI Signs onto TRAC Coalition Letter to the Editor Regarding Coercive Control Bill
Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly received a letter to the editor last week from the Together Rising Against Coercion Coalition, of which the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute is on the Steering Committee. The letter outlines some key facts regarding an Act to Prevent Abuse and Exploitation, popularly known as the ‘Revenge Porn’ bill, in relation to the MLW front page story “Revenge porn law raises bail, dangerousness concerns” (July 1).
MLRI Joins Over 1,400 Organizations in Urging Congress to Protect and Strengthen SNAP
The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and 95 other Massachusetts organizations joined with over 1,400 state and national organizations calling on Congress to protect and strengthen the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the upcoming Farm Bill deliberations.
TRAC Coalition Applauds Legislators for Passing Bill to Expand Definition of Domestic Abuse
The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute applauds the Massachusetts’ Legislature for approving legislation to protect survivors of domestic abuse. An Act to Prevent Abuse and Exploitation expands the definition of domestic abuse to include coercive control, the foundation of all forms of abuse. Coercive control is a pattern of deliberate behavior used by an abuser to restrict their victim’s safety and autonomy. Massachusetts now becomes the seventh state in the nation to recognize coercive control as a harmful form of domestic abuse. The law also aligns Massachusetts with 48 other states who have already outlawed revenge porn, a form of coercive control. Prior law in Massachusetts limited the definition of domestic violence to physical and sexual assault or fear of imminent serious physical harm.