California approves 1st state-funded guaranteed income plan

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) The California Legislature has approved the nation's first state-funded guaranteed income program.

The $35 million plan approved Thursday will fund local programs that will provide monthly cash payments to young adults who recently left foster care and pregnant people. The local programs will set the monthly amount. There will be no restrictions on how recipients spend it.

"It's going to be extremely beneficial because it's action, it's action from the state level, from our communities that actually are moving us in the right direction," said Ernest Howard, the executive director of Peacock Acres, a foster care agency in Salinas. "'With this money, I am going to go to college, I'm going to buy a car, it's going to help me with rent, I'm going to move up with the employment that I have.' That's where this is really going to make a difference."

Los Angeles is among a growing number of local governments have started guaranteed income programs. Monthly payments generally range from $500 to $1,000.

Advocates say their goal is to get Congress to approve a permanent, national guaranteed income program.