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America's Largest Universal Basic Income Program Yet Proposed By Mayor of Los Angeles

Saturday April 24, 2021. 05:34 PM , from Slashdot/Apple
The mayor of Los Angeles is proposing the largest universal income pilot program in America, saying he hopes the program will 'light a fire across our nation.'

Newsweek reports:

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has proposed giving a 'universal basic income' of $1000 a month to 2,000 poor local families for one year... The program would give 2,000 families below the federal poverty line monthly $1,000 checks for 12 months. The families could then spend the money however they please.

Garcetti said he hopes the program could provide a model for similar anti-poverty initiatives in other cities. 'We have to end America's addiction to poverty...' Garcetti told LAist, a local news site affiliated with Southern California Public Radio. Similar programs are also being floated in at least four other L.A. county districts, according to the Los Angeles Times...
If approved, Garcetti's program would be at least the 12th time that a U.S. region has offered a basic income to its citizens.

Bloomberg notes that Los Angeles 'will be the recipient of more than $1.3 billion in federal stimulus funds from the recently passed American Rescue Plan, which could be used to fund the payouts.'

Garcetti, a Democrat in his second term, is co-chair of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, which has been advocating for the policy at the federal level and funding local programs. The group, which has 43 elected officials as members, was founded last year by then-Stockton-mayor Michael Tubbs. It has received $18 million in seed money from Twitter Inc. co-founder Jack Dorsey as well as $200,000 from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable arm of Michael Bloomberg, founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News's parent company.

California cities have been taking a lead with these programs... In San Francisco, grants and some revenue from hotel taxes will fund monthly payments of $1,000 to about 130 artists for six months beginning next month. Organizers said the pilot is the first to solely target artists. Oakland will tap private donations this summer to fund its guaranteed income program, providing $500 monthly to about 600 poor families.

Still, a majority of Americans oppose the federal government providing a guaranteed basic income, according to a survey last year by the Pew Research Center...

Ultimately the costs of such programs will be too big for cities to finance alone, he said. But with data proving it works, Garcetti said states and the federal government could be inspired to fund them.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.
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