Rep. Schiff lauds Stockton as model for poverty fighting bill

A Stockton-pioneered experiment paying impoverished residents $500 monthly with  no strings attached would be tested nationwide if a proposal by Rep. Adam Schiff gets through Congress.

The Burbank Democrat told ABC7 Bay Area his national pilot project targeting Medicaid recipients “builds on a study done in Stockton.” A small amount of monthly income helps stabilize families on the edge of poverty, improves their work, physical health and mental health outcomes and saves the government money on health care and other costs, he said.

“This worked very well in Stockton,” Schiff said, referring to the Stockton Economic Empowerment Demonstration (SEED), which ran from 2019 to 2021 with 125 people.

Former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs championed that first mayor-led universal basic income test and says he supports Schiff’s effort now.

“We need a guaranteed income,” tweeted Tubbs, founder and chair of Mayors and Counties for a Guaranteed Income,

“In Stockton, our guaranteed income program yielded incredible returns for working families,” Tubbs said in a supporting statement. “Since then, we’ve scaled our movement from one mayor, in one city, to 200 mayors and county electeds across the country and 60-plus pilots. … When you give folks a guaranteed income, productivity goes up, stress goes down, and the general wellbeing of our communities improves.

“Nobody’s health outcomes should deteriorate because they aren’t able to pay the bills — and Rep. Schiff’s bill would be a major step forward in achieving that goal,” Tubbs said.

The Stockton experiment relied on philanthropic donations.

Schiff’s Guaranteed Additional Income for Families in Need (GAINS) Act would use federal tax dollars already allocated to the Health and Human Services Department.

Introduced by Schiff and Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-New Jersey) the bill if passed would:

• Establish at least 10 pilot programs in cities and states throughout the country.
• Pay participating Medicaid beneficiaries at least $500 in cash monthly for five years.
• Monitor and record how the money affects participants’ health outcomes to help determine how guaranteed income can be used to improve health outcomes in the future.

Because the pilot program uses no new money and could lead to government savings, Schiff said, enough House Republicans might join efforts to pass the GAIN Act bill this congressional session or next. It could have an easier time in a Democratic-controlled Senate and White House.

Critics have worried basic income recipients would lose their incentive to work and could misspend their money.

The SEED study said nearly all the cash given Stockton residents was spent on basic needs and essentials such as food, clothes, home goods, utilities and auto care. Less than 1 percent was spent on alcohol or tobacco.

Tubbs told Spectrum News participants in Stockton’s program and subsequent pilots spend responsibly.

“Literally every month we have a new study coming out from one of our mayors or one of our county officials that shows that, no, when you give people money, you allow them to breathe, they don’t become lazy, they don’t spend on drugs and alcohol, but they spend the money like how you and I spend money,” Tubbs said.