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State Advocacy

Priority State Legislation

The Children’s League of Massachusetts's legislative priorities for the 2023-2024 legislative session can be found below. You'll find our full agenda here and below as well.

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Endorsed State Legislation

CLM leads advocacy efforts with the support of our members and works in coalition with other advocacy groups to accomplish a broader legislative agenda. Check out our 2023-2024 endorsed state legislation below.

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State Budget

CLM tracks many budget priorities across agencies that serve children and families and we focus our budget advocacy on a few key areas each year.

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CLM Priority State Legislation

The Children’s League of Massachusetts advocates on behalf of bills that enhance the well-being of children and families in the Commonwealth. Our 2023-2024 legislative agenda includes critical priorities to best support services for children and families. You'll find all of our priority and endorsed bills below and via this link.

An Act Enhancing Child Welfare Protections (Child Welfare Omnibus)

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

An Act to provide identification to youth and adults experiencing homelessness

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

Bill of Rights for Children in Foster Care

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

PASSED - An Act to Ensure Legal Parentage Equality

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

Protecting benefits owed to foster children

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

Resolve providing for an investigation and study by a special commission relative to children and adolescents with intensive behavioral health needs

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

CLM Endorsed State Legislation

CLM works in coalition with other advocacy groups to accomplish a broader legislative agenda. Our 2023-2024 endorsed legislation includes bills across important categories: child welfare, equity, education, healthcare, juvenile justice, and workforce. You'll find all of our endorsed bills below, and you can view the priority and endorsed bills via this link.

Child Welfare

An Act minimizing trauma to court-involved children and families

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

An Act regarding families and children in need of assistance

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

An Act to Establish a Massachusetts Children’s Cabinet

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

SENT TO STUDY - An Act establishing the Massachusetts foster care review office

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

Education

An Act Relative to Safer Schools

An Act Providing Affordable and Accessible High Quality Early Education and Care to Promote Child Development and Well-being and Support the Economy in the Commonwealth

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

Equity

An Act Addressing the Racial Wealth Gap

An Act to eliminate disproportionality and inequities for at-risk children

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

An Act to Lift Kids Out of Deep Poverty

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

SENT TO STUDY - An Act To Strengthen Justice and Support for Sex Trade Survivors

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

An Act relative to language access and inclusion

Healthcare

An Act increasing access to postpartum home visiting services

An Act to ensure equitable health coverage for children (Cover All Kids)

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

Juvenile Justice

An Act promoting diversion of juveniles to community supervision and services

An Act to Ensure Educational Rights are Upheld for Incarcerated Youth

SENT TO STUDY - An Act Relative to Expungement of Juvenile and Young Adult Records

SENT TO STUDY - An Act improving juvenile justice data collection

Workforce

An Act establishing a behavioral health workforce center of excellence

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

SENT TO STUDY - An Act clarifying insurance liability for foster care providers

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

An Act establishing a loan repayment program for direct care human service workers

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

SENT TO STUDY - An act relative to livable wage for human services workers

Read CLM's testimony on this bill

CLM State Budget Advocacy

The state’s budget runs on a fiscal year, beginning on July 1 and ends on June 30. The Governor’s office and the state legislator work in tandem to create the state’s operating budget for that year. For more information about the state of Massachusetts’ current and proposed budgets, as well as a detailed process and timeline, please visit the state of Massachusetts’ webpage here.

State Budget Line Items for Children, Youth, Families, and Providers

Line ItemDescriptionFY24 Enacted*FY25
Governor
FY25 HOUSE FY25 SenateFY25 Conference CommitteeFY25 Enacted
Department of
Children and Families
4800-0015Clinical Support Services and Operations$140,416,735$154,341,248$153,122,836$152,847,836$153,172,836$153,172,836
4800-0016ROCA for Aging-Out Population/Transitional Employment (retained rev)$2,000,000 $2,000,000
$2,000,000
$2,000,000$2,000,000$2,000,000
4800-0025Foster Care Review Services$4,916,666$5,269,774$5,269,774$5,269,774$5,269,774$5,269,774
4800-0030Local & Regional Admin. provided by Area Leads (purchase-of-service contracts)$9,525,854 $11,423,980$11,923,980$11,201,980$11,701,980$11,701,980
4800-0036Sexual Abuse Intervention Network$841,534$991,584$991,584$991,584$991,584$991,584
4800-0038Services for Children & Families$355,808,909 $376,723,635$376,848,635$374,388,635$374,388,635$374,388,635
4800-0040Family Support and Stabilization$88,757,132 $139,539,127$139,539,127$139,539,127$139,539,127$139,539,127
4800-0041Congregate Care$431,019,785 $495,889,634$495,889,634$495,889,634$495,864,634$495,864,634
4800-0058Foster Care Recruitment Campaign$975,000 $975,000$975,000$975,000$975,000$975,000
4800-0091Child Welfare Social Worker Training Institute$4,742,908 $4,920,601$4,920,601$4,920,601$4,920,601$4,920,601
4800-0200Family Resources Centers$27,807,519$27,329,607$27,329,607$33,800,000$33,800,000$33,800,000
4800-1100Social Workers for Case Management$294,567,006 $311,500,072$311,500,072$311,500,072$311,500,072$311,500,072
Department of Mental Health
5042-5000Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services$120,604,949 $130,540,885$131,000,885$131,040,885$131,350,885$131,350,885
Department of Youth Services
4200-0010DYS Administration & Operations$4,920,321 $5,121,031$5,069,821$5,011,583$5,011,583$5,011,583
4200-0100Non-residential Services for Committed Population$25,626,720 $26,971,576$26,971,576$26,518,448$26,518,448$26,518,448
4200-0200Residential Services for Detained Population$29,995,433 $30,852,183$30,852,183$31,452,183$31,452,183$31,452,183
4200-0500DYS Teacher Salaries$3,059,187$3,059,187$3,059,187$3,059,187$3,059,187$3,059,187
4200-0600DYS Overnight Arrest Program$2,619,713$2,681,286$2,681,286$2,661,791$2,661,791$2,661,791
4200-0700Massachusetts Youth Diversion Program0$2,065,000$2,044,350$2,044,350$2,044,350$2,044,350
Department of Public Health
(Line items consolidated FY23)
4512-0200Bureau of Substance Addiction Services$216,694,161$193,128,851 (Eliminates FY24 1x costs)$194,427,031$198,928,851$212,652,031$212,652,031
4513-1020Early Intervention$42,900,000$30,900,031
(Eliminates FY24 1x costs)
$30,900,032$30,900,031$30,900,031$30,900,031
4590-0250School-Based Health Programs$26,066,196 $22,254,865 (Eliminates FY24 1x costs)$22,304,866$26,066,196$26,116,196$26,116,196
Governor's Offices and Other Health and Human Services
0930-0100Office of the Child Advocate$6,077,671$3,592,352 (Funding transferred to
4200-0700)
$5,015,275$3,892,352$5,142,352$5,142,352
0930-0101State Center on Child Wellbeing and Trauma$3,750,000$3,750,001$3,750,001$3,750,000$3,750,000$3,750,000
4000-0950Children's Behavioral Health Initiative$315,282,721 $315,282,721$315,282,721$315,282,721$315,282,721$315,282,721
7066-0021Foster Care Tuition and Fee Waiver$7,294,911 $7,294,911$7,294,911$7,294,911$7,294,911$7,294,911
7061-0012Special Education Extraordinary Costs$498,972,361$492,227,484$492,927,475$492,227,484$493,177,484$493,177,484
4000-0005Safe and Successful Youth Initiative$13,000,000 $12,600,000$13,075,000$13,300,000$13,375,000$13,375,000
4000-0007Unaccompanied Youth Housing$11,000,000$10,545,850$10,545,850$10,545,850$10,545,850$10,545,850
1599-6903Chapter 257$173,000,000$390,000,000$390,000,000$390,000,000$390,000,000$390,000,000
0950-0030Grandparents Commission$269,321$277,615$277,615$277,615$277,615$277,615
3000-2060Child Sex Abuse Prevention$2,350,000$2,351,044$2,351,044$2,351,044$2,351,044$2,351,044

4408-1000

Emergency Aid to Elderly, Disabled and
Children
$182,055,295** after 9C cuts; was $186,409,929$178,982,092$178,982,092$183,182,092$183,182,092$183,182,092

4403-2000

Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent
Children
$431,499,004** after 9c cuts; was $444,655,605$496,214,609$496,214,609$499,714,609$496,227,969$496,227,969
3000-3060DCF and DTA Related Childcare$355,658,167$356,587,135$356,587,135$356,587,135$356,587,135$356,587,135
3000-6025Commonwealth Preschool Partnership Initiative$17,673,127$17,673,127$15,000,000$17,523,127$17,523,127$17,523,127
1596-2434Rate Increase for Early Education and Care0$65,000,000$65,000,000$65,000,000$65,000,000$65,000,000
*May include earmarks

**Includes January 2024 9Cuts

Last updated 7/29/2024
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