Our state budget is a representation of our values - what is funded is the foundation of our state's future, and the state only funds what we fight for.
The budget process can be intimidating to even the most seasoned of observers, which is why every year MLRI advocates analyze the Gubernatorial, House, and Senate budget proposals to see how they will impact low-income residents of the Commonwealth.
This analysis forms the basis of our advocacy. We support parts of the budget that benefit low-income people and we promote amendments that would make the budget a stronger tool for fighting poverty.
Boston, MA (March 29, 2023) – The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute applauds the state legislature’s passage and Governor Healey’s enaction of the FY23 supplemental budget, which includes critically important provisions for low-income Massachusetts residents facing food insecurity and housing instability.
Boston MA (January 31, 2023) – The supplemental budget for fiscal year 2023 filed yesterday by Governor Healey takes three major steps towards reducing hunger for Massachusetts families.
MLRI joins 34 anti-hunger organizations in extending admiration and gratitude to Chairman McGovern for his ceaseless dedication to fighting food insecurity throughout his tenure in Congress. We are thankful for his championing of anti-hunger issues and pushing forward the funding that made the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health possible.
On Wednesday, September 28, the Biden-Harris Administration will host the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health. This conference is only the second of its kind - the previous was held in 1969.
The 1969 event was critical in the creation of school lunch programs and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). It also led to crucial changes to how the USA labels food.
Gina Plata-Nino will be representing Mass Law Reform at Wednesday's conference.
On May 10, 2022, the Senate Committee on Ways and Means released its budget proposal for fiscal year 2023 (FY 23), which is referred to as Senate 4. The Massachusetts Law Reform Institute prepared this analysis of selected budget topics impacting low-income residents of the Commonwealth:
Working with Massachusetts Legislators Has Eased Food Insecurity, Kept People Housed, Moved Children Out of Deep Poverty
Boston, Mass. (December 21, 2021) – Through legal, policy, and legislative advocacy, the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) helped thousands of families and individuals living in poverty throughout 2020 and 2021. MLRI is a nonprofit poverty law and policy center that advocates to advance policies and practices that secure economic, racial, and social justice for low-income communities.
“No period in recent memory has placed as much stress on people living in poverty than the last 18 months,” said Georgia Katsoulomitis, MLRI’s executive director. “MLRI has spent more than five decades fighting on their behalf at both the state and national levels. We have an expansive network of advocacy partners and community organizations we collaborate with to advance high impact initiatives. This strong foundation allowed us to move quickly to work with Massachusetts legislators and with the Baker-Polito administration to help the Commonwealth’s most vulnerable when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Those efforts have had considerable impact on the lives of thousands of Massachusetts residents throughout 2020 and 2021.”
On Monday, October 25, the Commonwealth’s House Ways and Means (HWM) Committee released a bill that details how the state will spend the billions of dollars that Massachusetts received through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). In total, the Commonwealth received $8.7 billion from the federal government, with $5.3 billion allocated to the state and $3.4 billion designated for municipalities.
Unfortunately, some key priorities that will help the most vulnerable of the state’s residents — those who this funding is supposed to help — were left out of the HWM bill. The bill includes no support for Right to Counsel, despite the fact that the COVID Eviction Legal Help Program (CELHP) has been successful in preventing evictions. There is also no increase in grants for children living in deep poverty.
President Biden and Congress made their priorities clear when they passed ARPA this past spring. These funds are meant to help the most vulnerable, the people struggling to put food on the table, keep a roof over their heads, and have access to health care. This current iteration of the bill is a good start, but does not go far enough in meeting those goals and investing in the Commonwealth’s human capital.
For Massachusetts residents seeking legal advice and information:
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