With about three weeks left before the Legislature’s July 31 deadline to move bills into conference committee, the Senate Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities advanced a wide-ranging anti-poverty bill that combines proposals filed over multiple legislative sessions.
The measure would expand cash assistance for low-income families, pregnant people, seniors and people with disabilities; prevent the state from withholding child support payments from low-income parents; replace stolen SNAP benefits; provide free menstrual products in schools, shelters and correctional facilities; raise farmworker wages to at least the state minimum wage; establish a baby bonds program; strengthen wage theft enforcement; and create new financial support programs for foster youth and low-income residents.
Supporters say the bill would help families meet basic needs, improve economic mobility and provide critical assistance amid ongoing uncertainty over federal safety net programs. The committee approved the legislation unanimously, though the latest version of the bill was not immediately available. The proposal now heads to the Senate Ways and Means Committee.
