California Residents Could Expect Another Stimulus Check: Residents in California could receive another stimulus check later this year. This news comes after the “final” round of the Golden State Stimulus II (GSS II) payments was being sent out to qualifying California residents. Families that met the eligibility requirements can expect to receive $600 in stimulus plus an additional $500 for dependents.
With the final round of payments, residents in the Golden States have now received more than 8 million checks and deposits, which has been valued at more than $5.9 billion.
“The Golden State Stimulus is key to lifting up those hit hardest by the pandemic and supporting California’s economic recovery, putting money directly in the hands of folks who will spend it on basic needs and within their local communities,” Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement last year when the second round of stimulus checks for California residents was announced.
It was part of the state’s $100 billion budget signed into law in July.
As part of that plan, the state expected to provide billions in Covid-19 relief to 15.2 million California households, roughly two-thirds of the state’s taxpayers. Eligible recipients included California residents who lived in the state for more than half of the 2020 tax year and who earned $75,000 or less in 2020.
Another Stimulus Check on the way?
That “final” check may not be so final, as it was reported earlier this week that Newsom’s budget proposal for 2022, which was unveiled on Monday, projects a massive $45.7 billion surplus for the year. Under state law, California would be obligated to give about $2.6 billion back to the taxpayers.
It is so far undecided whether the money would be given out as a stimulus check, much like the Golden State Stimulus last year, however, Gov. Newsom has said he’d work on it with the legislature.
“With a surplus of over $45.7 billion, California is a model for the nation on how we can confront our greatest existential threats and make historic investments in our future,” Newsom said via a release.
He added that the budget “fully funds our state’s rainy-day fund and pays down future obligations” while “fighting the climate crisis, taking on persistent inequality and homelessness, keeping our streets safe and more.”
Newsom has credited the capital gains taxes paid by wealthy California residents who profited from the stock market for the surplus.
However, it has also been boosted by federal pandemic aid.
The 2022 budget, which represents a 9.1 percent increase over the previous year’s budget, provides for a number of programs including efforts to stop the spread of Covid-19, addressing homelessness, and combating California’s persistent drought. It would also provide $2 billion in new grants and tax credits to support housing construction and $255 million in grants to local law enforcement and to help create a new “Smash and Grab Enforcement Unit” to combat organized retail crime.
The final budget will be revised in discussions with lawmakers over the next few months and it must be enacted by July.
Peter Suciu, a Contributing Writer for Forbes, is a Michigan-based writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers, and websites. He regularly writes about military small arms and is the author of several books on military headgear including A Gallery of Military Headdress, which is available on Amazon.com.
