California lawmakers approved a $35 million plan on Thursday for the first state-funded guaranteed income program in the United States. The program would give monthly payments to pregnant women and young adults who recently left foster care with no given restrictions on how they spend it, according to a report by ABC 7.
Votes from the state's senate at 36-0 and in the Assembly at 64-0 showed bipartisan support for an idea slowly gaining momentum across the country. Already, dozens of local programs have sprung up across the state, including privately funded ones, making it easier for state officials to sell to the public. But the approved program would be taxpayer-funded.
"If you look at the stats for our foster youth, they are devastating," Senate Republican Leader Scott Wilk said, according to the Associated Press. "We should be doing all we can to lift these young people up."
California's Department of Social Services will decide who receives the funding. The state's lawmakers will leave the decision to local officials to determine the size of the monthly amount, which could range anywhere between $500 and $1,000.
The vote for the measure came on the same day millions of parents began receiving their child tax credit, which many view as a form of guaranteed income.
"Now there is momentum, things are moving quickly," said Michael Tubbs, an advisor to Gov. Gavin Newsom. "The next stop is the federal government."
For decades, government assistance programs have had strict rules on how the money is spent, but this new program would be a shift in mindset from the "big-brother government."
"It changes the philosophy from 'big brother government knows what's best for you,'" said state Sen. Dave Cortese. "We've been very prescriptive with that population as a state and as counties go. Look at the failure. Half of them don't get their high school diplomas, let alone advance like other people their age."
But some critics disagree with the idea of government assistance programs or at least think the money would be better spent differently. California-based Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association President Jon Coupal says guaranteed income programs are "wealth transfer from productive individuals to those who may choose not to be productive." He added that a more appropriate use of taxpayer money would be for scholarship programs that fund education.
But he then added that "it's less offensive if it is targeted to people who truly need it."
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.