Baby Bonds took center stage in the Massachusetts legislature on October 24, as both the Joint Committee on Financial Services and Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight held hearings on legislation to create a statewide Baby Bonds program. The organizations providing testimony at the hearings—which ranged from those focused on child welfare, asset/wealth building (including Prosperity Now Community Champion, Midas Collaborative), social services, financial empowerment and banking—showed the breadth of support for Baby Bonds in Massachusetts. Shira Markoff, Sr. Policy Fellow, and Lauren Bealore, Associate Director for State and Local Policy, both testified, expressing Prosperity Now’s strong support for the legislation.  

The Baby Bonds legislation stems from the Baby Bonds Task Force created by State Treasurer Deborah Goldberg in 2022, which Shira served on. In testimony in front of the Joint Committee on Financial Services, Treasurer Goldberg urged the legislature to support this bill, stating that a Baby Bonds program is “an investment in our collective future…and give every child a chance to achieve their full potential.”  

Lauren testified to the Joint Committee on State Administration and Regulatory Oversight. She cited data about the significant disparities in wealth by race and ethnicity in the state and noted that “since wealth is primarily passed down intergenerationally, without restructuring and reframing the current system, wealth inequities will continue to perpetuate a cycle of financial vulnerability for the same demographics of people.”  

As Shira stated in her testimony to the Joint Committee on Financial Services, a Baby Bonds program would help address disparities in financial security and wealth in Massachusetts by race and ethnicity and that it has “the potential to begin to interrupt the perpetuation of wealth inequities…by providing more equitable access to the initial capital needed to build wealth.”  

Shira also recommended that the committee adopt the task force’s recommendation of an investment of around $6,400 per child. Between the expected growth in that initial investment and access to other supplements (e.g., student financial aid, downpayment assistance programs), that amount should be sufficient to purchase an asset after age 18 that will increase in value over their lifetime. Shira further stated that to ensure that the amount continues to be significant over time, the investment amount should automatically adjust periodically based on a measure of inflation (e.g., the Consumer Price Index).  

Overall, the Baby Bonds legislation had a strong showing at the hearings, with wide-ranging support from the Treasurer, legislators, and many organizations and no opposition. We will excitedly await the next steps as the committees debate the legislation. If Massachusetts joins Connecticut and Washington, DC in passing Baby Bonds legislation, it will move one step closer to an economy that supports the well-being of all families and ensures that every baby—whatever their race, ethnicity, location or economic situation they are born into—can have a successful future. 

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