Senator Sal DiDomenico, in collaboration with colleagues in the Massachusetts State Senate on Thursday, July 2, passed a $1.1 billion supplemental budget for Fiscal Year 2020 to support extraordinary costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic that require immediate attention.
The spending authorized in this supplemental budget will maximize federal financial support while providing critical resources for our most vulnerable populations.
This supplemental budget is the result of strong advocacy by Sen. DiDomenico and the Senate’s COVID-19 Working Group, especially the food security resources included in the bill. Since the beginning of the COVID emergency, Senator DiDomenico has played a key role on the Senate’s Safety Net subgroup and has helped to shape the Senate’s response to the growing food insecurity crisis in the Commonwealth. In light of the growing food insecurity challenges during this pandemic, the supplemental budget provides an immediate state allocation of $15M for food security supports, including$9M for the Massachusetts Emergency Food Assistance Program to support our overstretched food bank system during this time of incredible need.
Sen Domenico ended by saying, “I am pleased that my colleagues and I were able to include funds to meet the many needs of our Commonwealth and that our local community will have additional resources to support food distribution for our residents.”