ANNAPOLIS, MD — Lt. Governor Aruna Miller met yesterday with community members and CASA Maryland members to celebrate the impact of legislation recently signed into law by Governor Moore, including the Family Prosperity Act and the Fair Wage Act.
“The Moore-Miller legislative agenda will put forth concrete solutions to the biggest issues facing our communities – like child poverty,"
said Lt. Governor Miller. “As a result of strong and collaborative partnership with the General Assembly, our administration is enacting the most aggressive anti-poverty measures in state history and creating pathways to work, wages, and wealth. This is what leaving no Marylander behind looks like."
The Family Prosperity Act proposed by the Moore-Miller administration and signed into law by Governor Moore earlier this week will put Maryland on a path to ending child poverty by ensuring hundreds of thousands of Marylanders, including thousands of immigrant families, will continue to receive critical relief through the Earned-Income and Child Tax Credits.
Lt. Governor Miller previously testified in support of the Family Prosperity Act in the legislature alongside CASA members. Her testimony marked the first legislative testimony from a Maryland lieutenant governor in nearly a decade.
Maryland families will also benefit from the Fair Wage Act, also signed into law by Governor Moore this week. The Fair Wage Act will raise the minimum wage to $15 two years ahead of schedule.
The Fair Wage Act of 2023, which raises the minimum wage in Maryland effective January 1, 2024. The acceleration brings the minimum wage up to $15 an hour two years ahead of schedule and will increase wages for approximately 163,000 workers, benefitting 120,000 children in Maryland.
The Family Prosperity Act of 2023, which will lift at least 34,000 Maryland children to the next rung on the economic ladder and combat the root causes of child poverty through two primary means:
- Permanently extending the Earned Income Tax Credit created by the legislature during the 2020 legislative session and removing the $530 cap for adults without qualifying children;
- Expanding the Child Tax Credit to cover all taxpayers who have children aged six and under who have a federally adjusted gross income of $15,000 or less (up from $6,000); the expansion makes all children under age six eligible while retaining credit for children over age six who are living with disabilities.
The expansion of the Child Tax Credit will benefit an estimated 40,000 taxpayers, while the expansion and permanent extension of the Earned Income Tax Credit will provide much-needed relief for as many as 400,000 Marylanders. The action is part of nearly $200 million reserved for tax relief as proposed by Governor Moore, including funding for the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and new tax cuts for veterans.