Legislation filed by state lawmakers, if approved, would allow politicians to use campaign funds to cover the cost of childcare while running for office and prevent foreign owned companies from spending on Massachusetts politics.

The Joint Committee on Elections heard testimony from their colleagues and advocates Wednesday on the worth of about two dozen bills, several of which would change the law so that state politicians can use their campaign donations to cover the cost of daycare.

“During my run for Congress I was and still am the primary caretaker for my two daughters,” Jamie Zahlaway Belsito, a former state representative and congressional candidate, told lawmakers. “There were moments on my campaign where there was no help to watch my children.”

According to data provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, the cost of daycare in some Massachusetts municipalities is as high as it is anywhere in the country, with families paying upwards of $26,000 per year for childcare.

Too often, Belsito said, parents who might otherwise take an interest in representing their communities decide otherwise when confronted with the cost of childcare. An Act supporting parents running for public office, S.422 or H.669, would change that, Belsito said.

“It would have been extremely helpful while I was serving in this Legislature to have utilized those funds when I was running and when I was serving because, as many of us know, the job can be 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” she said. “(The act) does nothing but change one’s ability to expend their own funds that they have raised.”

Lawmakers were also presented with a plan to prevent foreign companies and individuals from making big money plays in Massachusetts politics. An Act to limit political spending by foreign-influenced corporations, S.430 or H.722, was defended as something all voters, regardless of political leaning, should support.

“Even in these divided times, Americans can agree that foreign interests should not be able to influence our political system by pouring money into elections,” Jeff Foster, executive director of Common Cause, told the committee.

Foreign governments and citizens are already prohibited from spending money in state elections, Foster told lawmakers, but that doesn’t actually stop them from doing so.

“A loophole allows foreign money to enter our politics through political spending by corporations,” he said.

The new law would prohibit spending on political activity by any company that is 5% or more owned by a non-U.S. citizen.

A law specifically aimed toward former President Donald Trump was also floated, a plan which would require candidates to disclose four years of tax returns to appear on a presidential ballot in Massachusetts.