Backdate MA TAFDC and EAEDC standard assistance for FY25 10% increase (April 2025)

[hua7450]

Summary

Backdates Massachusetts TAFDC and EAEDC standard assistance parameters to include the 10% grant increase mandated by the FY25 budget, effective April 1, 2025. TAFDC last update was 2022-10-01; EAEDC last update was 2022-01-01.

Closes #8288
Closes #8302

Regulatory history

The FY24 budget initially scheduled a 10% TAFDC/EAEDC raise for April 1, 2024, but Governor Healey rescinded it via 9C mid-year budget cuts in January 2024 — the FY24 raise never took effect. The actual 10% increase comes from the FY25 budget, effective April 1, 2025.

Primary source

MA DTA Online Guide Transmittal 2025-10 (March 27, 2025), signed by Sarah Stuart, Associate Commissioner for Change Management:
https://eohhs.ehs.state.ma.us/DTA/PolicyOnline/olg%20docs/olgtm/2025/10.pdf#page=1

Verbatim quote:

"TAFDC and EAEDC cash benefit amounts will increase by 10% for most clients as of April 1, 2025. The EAEDC Personal Needs Allowances (PNA) for living arrangements C and E is not increasing."

Secondary confirmations:

• MLRI — "Massachusetts FY25 Budget Includes 10% Cash Assistance Increase Starting April 2025"
• Children's HealthWatch — FY24 raise blocked by 9C cuts

TAFDC parameter changes

Added 2025-04-01 entries to:

• parameters/gov/states/ma/dta/tcap/tafdc/eligibility/income_limit/base/private_housing.yaml (all 10 brackets)
• parameters/gov/states/ma/dta/tcap/tafdc/eligibility/income_limit/base/public_housing.yaml (all 10 brackets)
• parameters/gov/states/ma/dta/tcap/tafdc/eligibility/income_limit/additional_person.yaml: $139 → $153

Sizes 1-8 read directly from the mass.gov TAFDC chart; sizes 9-10 extrapolated using the chart's stated +$153-per-additional-member rule:

Size	Public/Subsidized	Private
1	$564	$604
2	$713	$753
3	$861	$901
4	$1,003	$1,043
5	$1,150	$1,190
6	$1,301	$1,341
7	$1,448	$1,488
8	$1,593	$1,633
9 (extrap.)	$1,746	$1,786
10 (extrap.)	$1,899	$1,939
Each add'l	+$153	+$153

Public/subsidized increases are exactly +10% across all sizes. Private = public + $40 flat (rent allowance) for every size.

EAEDC parameter changes

Added 2025-04-01 entries to:

• parameters/gov/states/ma/dta/tcap/eaedc/standard_assistance/amount/base.yaml
• parameters/gov/states/ma/dta/tcap/eaedc/standard_assistance/amount/additional.yaml

Values from mass.gov EAEDC Grant Calculation chart:

Living Arrangement	base	additional	Status
A (independent)	$401 → $441.10	$121 → $133.10	+10%
B	$121 → $133.10	$121 → $133.10	+10%
C (PNA — institution)	$72.80	$0	unchanged per memo
D (with non-EAEDC adult)	$401 → $441.10	$121 → $133.10	+10%
E (PNA — rest home)	$72.80	$0	unchanged per memo
F (shelter)	$258 → $284.70	$0	+10% (chart value; implied prior base was $258.80)
H	$267.30 → $294.10	$80.80 → $88.90	+10%
NONE	$0	$0	unchanged

LA A's $401 → $441.10 exactly matches MLRI's quote: "EAEDC ... increases from $401/month to $441/month."

Source charts

• mass.gov TAFDC chart: https://www.mass.gov/how-to/transitional-aid-to-families-with-dependent-children-tafdc
• mass.gov EAEDC chart: https://www.mass.gov/lists/emergency-aid-to-the-elderly-disabled-and-children-eaedc-grant-calculation

Impact

For a 2-person household (1 adult + 1 child), $0 income, private housing, 2026-01:

• TAFDC before: ma_tafdc = 730 ($688 main + $41.67 clothing)
• TAFDC after: ma_tafdc = 795 ($753 main + $41.67 clothing)

Cross-validated against NCCP TANF Cash Benefits 2-person reference value ($753), which matches the post-FY25 size-2 private housing amount.

EAEDC LA A standard assistance for size 2:

• Before: $522/mo ($401 + $121)
• After (2025-04+): $574.20/mo ($441.10 + $133.10)

Tests

• Added Cases 4-5 to ma_tafdc_payment_standard.yaml testing size-2 private ($753) and public ($713) at 2026-01.
• Added Case 9 to ma_eaedc_standard_assistance.yaml testing LA A size 2 at 2026-01 ($574.20).
• Updated Case 8 (period 2025 annual) to mixed pre/post-FY25 value: $6,264 → $6,733.80 (= 522×3 + 574.2×9).
• Updated 2025 annual integration tests in ma_tafdc.yaml and ma_eaedc.yaml:
  • ma_tafdc_payment_standard (size 2 priv, annual 2025): 8,256 → 8,841 (= 688×3 + 753×9)
  • ma_tafdc (size 2 priv, annual 2025): 6,956 → 7,541
  • ma_eaedc_financial_eligible flips false → true after the raise (standard_assistance > net_income)
  • ma_eaedc_income_eligible flips false → true (propagates)
  • ma_eaedc itself stays at 0 (non_financial_eligible: false)
• 2025-01 monthly EAEDC integration test left at pre-FY25 values ($688, $580) since 2025-01 is before the 4/1/2025 effective date.

Test plan

• All 144 MA TCAP tests pass locally (policyengine-core test policyengine_us/tests/policy/baseline/gov/states/ma/dta/tcap -c policyengine_us)
• make format clean
• CI passes

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 70.95%. Comparing base (8cb60e7) to head (f6a0ae6).
⚠️ Report is 21 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@             Coverage Diff              @@
##              main    #8289       +/-   ##
============================================
- Coverage   100.00%   70.95%   -29.05%     
============================================
  Files            3     4723     +4720     
  Lines           63    68774    +68711     
  Branches         0      340      +340     
============================================
+ Hits            63    48797    +48734     
- Misses           0    19974    +19974     
- Partials         0        3        +3     

Flag	Coverage Δ
unittests	70.95% <ø> (-29.05%)	⬇️

Flags with carried forward coverage won't be shown. Click here to find out more.

☔ View full report in Codecov by Sentry.
📢 Have feedback on the report? Share it here.

🚀 New features to boost your workflow:

• ❄️ Test Analytics: Detect flaky tests, report on failures, and find test suite problems.