It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Sunday, April 21, 2024
Bill establishing labor standards in Hawaii moves forward
Victoria Budiono,
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser Sun, April 21, 2024
Apr. 21—A bill before legislators would give counties the power to adopt labor standards.
A bill before legislators would give counties the power to adopt labor standards.
Senate Bill 2615 has the backing of some county officials who say they have seen cases of labor law violations in their districts.
Honolulu Council member Tyler Dos Santos-Tam, whose district spans from Kakaako to Kalihi, said in written testimony that there have been allegations of labor abuse there—including complaints about immigrant construction workers on residential properties having their passports withheld or being required to live on job sites during construction of residential properties.
"(Senate Bill 2615 ) would empower the inspectors who visit construction sites to verify labor standards, such as wages, benefits, and apprenticeship standards, " he said.
Dos Santos-Tam said if counties had the power to adopt labor standards, with enforcement through existing city inspectors, "we would be able to stop these unscrupulous actors more quickly, versus engaging in a multiagency enforcement process, as is the case now."
Maui Council member Nohelani U 'u-Hodgins also submitted written testimony that SB 2615 is a step forward in protecting the local workforce and ensuring the well-being of individuals and their families.
"It has become increasingly evident that labor violations have a detrimental impact on the livelihoods of our local workforce and the overall success of our communities, " U 'u-Hodgins wrote. "Counties can play an important role in stopping unlawful employers who take advantage of workers by not paying them earned wages and benefits."
In July 2020, Pacific Resource Partnership—representing the Hawaii Regional Council of Carpenters with 6, 000 members—said it initiated an investigation that led to S &A Industries Inc. being fined nearly $700, 000 by the U.S. Department of Labor for failing to pay overtime wages to 110 construction workers on Kauai hotel renovation projects.
"S &A had classified some other workers as subcontractors and then paying them out, and the subcontractors would then pay the workers in cash, " Josh Magno, PRP interim executive director, told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. "In some situations, we heard they're being paid $10 an hour working 7 days a week."
In its written testimony supporting SB 2615, PRP said "hard-working men and women in the counties are victimized by an 'underground economy' where individuals and businesses utilize schemes to conceal or misrepresent their employee population to avoid one or more of their employer responsibilities related to wages, payroll taxes, insurance, licensing, safety, or other regulatory requirements."
Chris Delaunay, PRP government relations manager, said the current state law doesn't give authority for the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations to necessarily take action, and SB 2615 could authorize the counties to adopt labor standards so it can revoke permits if needed.
PRP also wrote that granting counties the authority to enforce ordinances on wage, benefit, hour, and employment law compliance for building permits would incentivize property owners and developers to choose contractors who adhere to these laws more diligently.
"If you have good jobs here, good work opportunities, then you're helping to prevent that outmigration of local residents to the mainland, " Delaunay said.
Brazil's president creates two new Indigenous territories, bringing total in his term to 10
MAURICIO SAVARESE Thu, April 18, 2024 An Indigenous representative takes a photo with his cell phone as he waits for the start of the closing ceremony of the 1st Ordinary Meeting of the National Council for Indigenous Policy, in Brasilia, Brazil, Thursday, April 18, 2024. The council, dissolved in 2019, was revived in 2023.
(AP Photo/Eraldo Peres)
SAO PAULO (AP) — President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva on Thursday announced the creation of two new Indigenous territories for Brazil, bringing the total number of new reserves during this term to 10.
The Cacique Fontoura reserve will be in Mato Grosso state and the Aldeia Velha territory will be in Bahia state. They will cover a combined total area of almost 132 square miles (342 square kilometers).
Speaking at a ceremony in Brasilia, Lula's said Indigenous peoples should be patient as he seeks to fulfill his pledge of creating 14 new territories.
Lula's predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro, had encouraged widespread development of the Amazon — both legal and illegal — and made good on his pledge to not demarcate a single centimeter of additional Indigenous land.
Lula took office in 2023 pledging to change that, but Indigenous rights activists hoped he would move faster. Last year, he demarcated six territories in April and two more in September.
The Brazilian president said during his speech that the latest two new territories would not be enough. He cited legal issues for the delay in setting aside additional lands.
“I know you have some concern because you were expecting six Indigenous lands. We decided to authorize two, and that frustrated some of our friends,” Lula said, standing next to his Indigenous peoples minister, Sônia Guajajara, who wore a traditional yellow feather headdress. “I did this so I wouldn't lie to you. It is better to solve the problems instead of just authorizing it.”
The four envisioned Indigenous territories that were not authorized are occupied by farmers who have ownership rights to those lands, Brazil's government said.
Indigenous leader Dinamam Tuxá told journalists he was “partially happy.”
“Every new Indigenous territory is a victory,” Tuxá said.
Last year, Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled to enshrine Indigenous land rights in a case brought by farmers seeking to block Indigenous peoples from expanding the size of their territorial claims.
The court rejected a legal theory arguing the date that Brazil's constitution was promulgated — Oct. 5, 1988 — should be the deadline for when Indigenous peoples had to have already either physically occupied land or be legally fighting to reoccupy it.
Several lawmakers in Brazil's Congress are still pushing to revive that theory and fit it into legislation.
Indigenous rights groups argued the concept of the deadline is unfair, saying it does not account for expulsions and forced displacements of Indigenous populations, particularly during Brazil’s two-decade military dictatorship. Rio's Christ lights up green for Indigenous Peoples Day
Reuters Videos Updated Fri, April 19, 2024
STORY: A dozen members of indigenous groups from across the country gathered at the feet of the statue to commemorate the occasion.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva officially recognized two more Indigenous territories on Thursday but said he decided not to sign off on four others because they still need to be cleared by people currently occupying them.
Pakistani province issues a flood alert and warns of a heavy loss of life from glacial melting
RIAZ KHAN Updated Sat, April 20, 2024 People pass by a damaged electric pole caused by flooding due to heavy rains near Chaman area, Pakistan, Thursday, April 18 2024. Lightning and heavy rains led to 14 deaths in Pakistan, officials said Wednesday, bringing the death toll from four days of extreme weather to at least 63, as the heaviest downpour in decades flooded villages on the country's southwestern coast. Flash floods have also killed dozens of people in neighboring Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Habib Ullah)More
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani province has issued a flood alert because of glacial melting and warned of a heavy loss of life if safety measures aren't undertaken, officials said Saturday.
Pakistan has witnessed days of extreme weather, killing scores of people and destroying property and farmland. Experts say the country is experiencing heavier rains than normal in April because of climate change.
In the mountainous northwest province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, which has been hit particularly hard by the deluges, authorities issued a flood alert because of the melting of glaciers in several districts.
They said the flood could worsen and that people should move to safer locations ahead of any danger.
“If timely safety measures are not taken, there is a possibility of heavy loss of life and property due to the expected flood situation,” said Muhammad Qaiser Khan, from the local disaster management authority.
Latest figures from the province said that 59 people, including 33 children, have died in the past five days because of rain-related incidents.
At least 2,875 houses and 26 schools have either collapsed or been damaged.
The southwest province of Baluchistan has also been battered by rainfall. It said it had limited resources to deal with the current situation, but if the rains continued, it would look to the central government for help.
In 2022, downpours swelled rivers and at one point inundated a third of Pakistan, killing 1,739 people. The floods also caused $30 billion in damage.
Pakistan's monsoon season starts in June.
Cloud-Making Aircraft Probably Didn’t Cause Dubai’s Record Flooding
Owen Bellwood Thu, April 18, 2024 Dubai’s cloud-seeding planes were in the air before record flooding. -
Cloud seeding is the practice of sending small aircraft high into the sky to disperse specially-developed chemicals that can encourage the formation of rain clouds. Such practices are coming in areas susceptible to drought in an attempt to return water to the land and save crops and people.
Now, keyboard warriors around the world are claiming this practice was to blame for record flooding in Dubai and Oman, which saw more than 10 inches of rain fall on the region in less than 24 hours.
More than 10 inches of rain fell in 24 hours. - Photo: Francois Nel (Getty Images)
They think this because the United Arab Emirates frequently turns to cloud seeding to alter its weather, ABC News in Australia reports. In fact, “six or seven” cloud-seeding flights were reported in the build up to the storms, as ABC News explains
Several reports quoted meteorologists at the National Center for Meteorology as saying they flew six or seven cloud-seeding flights before the rains.
Flight-tracking data analyzed by AP showed one aircraft affiliated with the UAE’s cloud-seeding efforts flew around the country on Monday.
However, experts explained that the flights couldn’t have caused this much rain to fall in such a short period of time, adding that the disastrous floods in the UAE were forecast long before the cloud-seeding flights took to the skies.
Cloud seeding sprays chemicals into the atmosphere to promote cloud formation.
- Photo: Andrea DiCenzo (Getty Images)
Instead experts say that the floods, which left airports in turmoil, roads flooded and even killed more than 20 people, were caused by plain old climate change. As ABC News reports:
Jeff Masters, a meteorologist for Yale Climate Connections, said the flooding in Dubai was caused by an unusually strong low-pressure system that drove many rounds of heavy thunderstorms.
“You don’t need cloud seeding’s influence to account for the record deluge in Dubai,” Mr Masters said.
Friederike Otto, a senior lecturer in climate science at Imperial College London, said it was misleading to talk about cloud seeding as the cause of the heavy rainfall.
“Cloud seeding can’t create clouds from nothing,” she said.
Cloud-seeding tech encourages moisture that’s already in the air to come together and cause heavy rain clouds, which can then dump all their water out as rain. However, the rain fall the tech can cause is on “a totally different scale” to Dubai’s floods, reports ABC News.
The heavy rainfall has instead been blamed on climate change in the region, with global warming meaning that severe weather events such as this are “likely to become much heavier and worse” in the years to come.
Head of NASA Says China Is Hiding Military Experiments in Space
Noor Al-Sibai Sat, April 20, 2024
Full Nelson
NASA's administrator is once again making outrageous claims about China's space capabilities — and in the process, fueling the off-world rivalry between the two.
"We believe that a lot of [China's] so-called civilian space program is a military program," Administrator Bill Nelson said during remarks on Capitol Hill this week, per The Guardian. "And I think, in effect, we are in a race."
The comments, as the website notes, came during a hearing before the House Appropriations Committee — which means that Nelson was making them while asking for money for NASA, which has requested a whopping $25.384 billion for its 2025 funding.
"China has made extraordinary strides, especially in the last 10 years," Nelson continued, "but they are very, very secretive."
Big Talk
It's unclear from the reporting about the administrator's comments what evidence his claims are riding on. This is not, as we mentioned, the first time Nelson has made such bold accusations about our sometimes-ally.
Sworn in in May 2021, Nelson has for much of his tenure warned that China could usurp America's space advantage at any moment — and has used similarly bold claims to demonstrate that point.
Just a year into the job — and during another House Appropriations Committee hearing — the administrator straight-up accused China of stealing American spacecraft designs.
"Yeah, they're pretty good at stealing," Nelson told the subcommittee in May 2022, "and I think that's incumbent upon us to take cybersecurity very, very seriously."
Just a few months later, he claimed in an interview with a random German newspaper that China wants to "steal" the Moon as well, which prompted a response from the rival nation.
"The US side has constantly constructed a smear campaign against China's normal and reasonable outer space endeavors," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said in a press statement, "and China firmly opposes such irresponsible remarks."
Moon Money
While there certainly is no love lost between Nelson and his Chinese counterparts, the incendiary discourse between these space race rivals generally seems to originate on the American side.
Last fall, Nelson again claimed that China plans to hoard lunar resources for itself, which would go against the United Nations' binding space treaty of 1967 — and in his more recent remarks, he reiterated those remarks while begging for more money.
"The latest date they've said they're going to land [on the Moon] is 2030, but that keeps moving up," Nelson told Congress, per transcription from Sky News. "It is incumbent on us to get there first and to utilize our research efforts for peaceful purposes."
At this point, the lengthy list of receipts of this sort of recurrent rhetoric coming from the top of NASA does make one wonder: is China on the offensive, or is America?
Scientists spot ‘glory effect’ on a world beyond our solar system for the first time
Ashley Strickland, CNN Fri, 19 April 2024
Astronomers have spotted what they believe to be a rainbow-like phenomenon occurring on a planet outside our solar system for the first time, and it could reveal new insights about alien worlds.
Observations from the European Space Agency’s Cheops space telescope, or Characterising ExOplanet Satellite, detected a “glory effect” on WASP-76b, an ultra-hot exoplanet 637 light-years from Earth.
Often seen on Earth, the effect consists of concentric, colorful rings of light, and it occurs when light reflects off clouds made of a uniform substance.
Beyond Earth, the glory effect had only been seen on Venus until Cheops and other missions picked up an incredibly faint signal suggesting it occurs in the atmosphere of the hellishly hot WASP-76b. Based on the signal detected by Cheops, astronomers believe the atmospheric phenomenon is directly facing Earth.
Researchers reported details of the observation April 5 in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
“There’s a reason no glory has been seen before outside our Solar System — it requires very peculiar conditions,” said lead study author Olivier Demangeon, an astronomer at the Institute of Astrophysics and Space Sciences in Portugal, in a statement. “First, you need atmospheric particles that are close-to-perfectly spherical, completely uniform and stable enough to be observed over a long time. The planet’s nearby star needs to shine directly at it, with the observer — here Cheops — at just the right orientation.” A wild, scorching planet
WASP-76b has intrigued astronomers ever since its discovery in 2013.
The exoplanet closely orbits its host star, and the intense heat and radiation received from that sun-like star — more than 4,000 times the amount of radiation that Earth gets from our sun — has caused WASP-76b to puff up, making it nearly double the size of Jupiter, the largest planet in our solar system.
A simulated view shows a glory as it may appear on Venus (left) and Earth.
- C. Wilson/P. Laven/ESA
The planet is tidally locked to its star, meaning that one side, known as the dayside, always faces the star, while the other face of the planet is in permanent night.
The dayside of WASP-76B reaches scorching temperatures of 4,352 degrees Fahrenheit (2,400 degrees Celsius). Elements that would typically form rocks on Earth melt and evaporate on the dayside before condensing and creating clouds that release molten iron rain on the night side.
Astronomers decided to focus a whole host of observatories, including Cheops, the Hubble Space Telescope, the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope and NASA’s planet-hunting TESS mission, to study what appeared to be an imbalance of light that occurred as WASP-76b orbited in front of its host star.
Combined data from Cheops and TESS, or the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, hinted that the anomaly might be due to something intriguing occurring in the atmosphere above the dayside.
Cheops captured data from WASP-76b as the planet passed in front of its star, making 23 observations over three years.
When astronomers looked at the data, they noticed an unusual increase in light coming from the eastern “terminator” on the planet, or the boundary light between the day and night sides. Meanwhile, less light was released from the western terminator.
“This is the first time that such a sharp change has been detected in the brightness of an exoplanet, its ‘phase curve,’” Demangeon said. “This discovery leads us to hypothesize that this unexpected glow could be caused by a strong, localised and anisotropic (directionally dependent) reflection — the glory effect.”
Demangeon said he is thrilled to be involved in the first detection of this type of light coming from an exoplanet.
“It was such a special feeling — a particular satisfaction that doesn’t happen every day,” he said. Colorful light on alien worlds
Glory and rainbows aren’t the same thing. Rainbows occur when light is bent as it passes consecutively through two mediums with differing densities, like from air to water. As the light is bent, it breaks into different colors, creating an arcing rainbow.
But the glory effect is created as light moves through a narrow opening and bends, creating colorful, patterned rings.
If astronomers truly are seeing the glory effect on WASP-76b, it means the planet has persistent clouds made of perfectly spherical droplets — or clouds that constantly replenish. Either way, the presence of such clouds suggests that the planet’s atmosphere has a stable temperature.
The nature of what exactly is in the clouds on WASP-76b remains a mystery, but it could be iron, since the element has previously been detected in clouds on the planet. An artist's illustration shows the night-side view of the exoplanet WASP-76b, where iron rains down from the sky. - M. Kornmesser/ESO
“What’s important to keep in mind is the incredible scale of what we’re witnessing,” said Matthew Standing, a European Space Agency research fellow studying exoplanets, in a statement. Standing was not involved in the study.
“WASP-76b is several hundred light-years away — an intensely hot gas giant planet where it likely rains molten iron,” Standing said. “Despite the chaos, it looks like (researchers) detected the potential signs of a glory. It’s an incredibly faint signal.”
If astronomers are able to observe the faint signal of a phenomenon such as a glory from hundreds of light-years away, detecting the presence of sunlight reflecting off extraterrestrial bodies of water may also be possible in the future, according to the researchers.
“Further proof is needed to say conclusively that this intriguing ‘extra light’ is a rare glory,” said Theresa Lueftinger, project scientist for the European Space Agency’s Ariel mission, in a statement. She was not involved in the study.
Ariel, or the Atmospheric Remote-sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey, is expected to launch in 2029 to study the atmospheres of a large, diverse selection of exoplanets.
Lueftinger said she believes that the James Webb Space Telescope or Ariel may be able to help prove the presence of the glory effect on WASP-76b.
“We could even find more gloriously revealing colours shining from other exoplanets,” she said.
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Yale students continue hunger strike in protest over Israel’s war on Gaza
Erum Salam Fri, April 19, 2024 Damaged buildings in Khan Younis in Gaza on Friday.
Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images
A group of students at Yale University were on Friday into the seventh day of a hunger strike in support of Palestinians in Gaza and in a protest to pressure the university to divest from any weapons manufacturing companies potentially supplying the Israeli military.
The group titles itself Yale Hunger Strikers for Palestine and one protester, the graduate student Miguel Monteiro, described losing weight and feeling dizzy, while attempting to put the group’s efforts into a wider perspective.
“Our heads are spinning, we have a lack of concentration, and difficulty sleeping,” Monteiro said. “But the point goes back to what we’ve been trying to say since the beginning, which is this is absolutely nothing compared with what is being inflicted upon the people of Gaza.”
Monteiro is only drinking water and electrolytes. He has not had any solid food since the strike began on campus nearly a week ago.
The group decided to resort to hunger strike after a letter calling for a commitment to divest from such companies was sent to the university’s president, Peter Salovey, but was left unanswered.
The students had warned the head of the school that if he failed to respond within 48 hours that “students would refuse food in solidarity with the Palestinian people, in opposition to Yale”.
The action continued as police arrested more than 100 students who created an encampment in support of Palestine on campus at Columbia University in New York on Thursday.
Students at some other universities such as McGill in Montreal have engaged in similar hunger strikes. Students there are calling for the institution to divest about $20m from companies with products used by the Israeli military, such as Lockheed Martin, which supplies Israeli with fighter jets.
The Yale Corporation, also known as the board of trustees of the university, will hold its final meeting of the year on Saturday, and students on hunger strike hope their pleas to divest will be heard.
Yale did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but instead referred to a public statement on the hunger strike, which read, in part: “Staff members will continue to emphasize the importance of student health and wellbeing during this time. Students participating in a hunger strike are encouraged to consult with clinicians at Yale Health.
“For more than 50 years, the university has employed a rigorous process to ensure the ethical management of its endowment, guided first and foremost by these longstanding principles. The Corporation Committee on Investor Responsibility (CCIR) considers and makes recommendations to the Board of Trustees on policy matters related to ethical investing. It is supported by the work of the Advisory Committee on Investor Responsibility (ACIR), whose members include alumni, staff, faculty, and students.”
Yale said the ACIR is looking into the issue of divestment and preparing to provide an update within the coming weeks.
#UBI
Seattle gave low-income residents $500 a month no strings attached. Employment rates nearly doubled.
Noah Sheidlower,Katie Balevic Updated Sat, Apr 20, 2024 A view of the Seattle skyline.Jeff Halstead/Icon Sportswire/Getty Images
A Seattle basic income pilot gave low-income residents $500 a month, nearly doubling employment rates.
Some participants reported getting new housing, while others saw their employment incomes rise.
Basic income pilots nationwide have seen noteworthy success, despite conservative opposition.
A Seattle-area guaranteed basic income pilot gave low-income residents $500 a month to help reduce poverty. Employment in the group nearly doubled, and numerous unhoused residents secured housing.
"These results showcase the power of community investment and the necessity of equitable solutions to address persistent barriers," said Marie Kurose, CEO of the WDC, in a statement. "The WDC will continue to use these insights to amplify our impact and drive transformative change in our region."
In the Seattle-area pilot program, public and private partners — such as King County, the Employment Security Department, and Chase Bank — provided funding to the participants, about 88% of whom were people of color. King County is a mostly white, wealthy county, according to Census data.
Employment among the participants almost doubled from 37% before the program to 66% post-pilot. Participants also reported getting higher-paying jobs with additional benefits. Participants' average incomes increased from $2,995 a month to $3,405.
The percentage of participants whose jobs provided a retirement plan nearly tripled, while life insurance doubled. Over a quarter of participants reported acquiring disability insurance in their new jobs, which none of them had in their previous jobs.
Participants also reported being more financially stable, meaning they could pay off bills and debts while building up more savings for the future. For instance, the percent of participants with savings increased from 24% to 35% — for families with children, this increased from 0% to 42%. The percentage of those able to consistently pay their bills doubled from 19% to 38%. The percentage of those behind on all debts stayed stagnant.
The payments contributed to less anxiety and fatigue and more freedom to travel and spend on non-essentials. Likely due to increased ability to seek treatment, some also reported reduced physical pain, allowing them to go about their days more easily and complete educational or professional goals.
Parents reported using the payments mainly for their children's needs, though many said they couldn't significantly strengthen their own financial position. Parents were less likely to have started short-term professional training compared to non-parents.
Many participants said they wanted the program to continue for a full year rather than 10 months, while others suggested higher monthly payments as high as $1,000.
The results are on trend with those of similar pilot programs nationwide, which have seen massive success. Participants in universal and guaranteed basic income programs have widely reported that the funds helped them pay off debts, as well as afford groceries, childcare, and housing.
Even so, conservative lawmakers nationwide have loudly advocated against the programs, claiming that they discourage work and cost taxpayers. However, many of the pilot programs are funded privately by philanthropy or by federal relief funds. Republicans in several state legislatures have pushed efforts to ban basic income programs in their states.
Red states fight growing efforts to give ‘basic income’ cash to residents
Kevin Hardy Sun, April 21, 2024 Susie Garza displays a city-provided debit card she receives monthly through a trial program in Stockton, California, in 2019.
Susie Garza displays a city-provided debit card she receives monthly through a trial program in Stockton, California, in 2019. That year, Stockton launched a basic income experiment that has set off a major expansion of such programs across the country. Research has shown basic income programs can boost employment and health, but GOP lawmakers in some states are pushing back on the concept of free cash. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo)
South Dakota state Sen. John Wiik likes to think of himself as a lookout of sorts — keeping an eye on new laws, programs and ideas brewing across the states.
“I don’t bring a ton of legislation,” said Wiik, a Republican. “The main thing I like to do is try and stay ahead of trends and try and prevent bad things from coming into our state.”
This session, that meant sponsoring successful legislation banning cities or counties from creating basic income programs, which provide direct, regular cash payments to low-income residents to help alleviate poverty.
While Wiik isn’t aware of any local governments publicly floating the idea in South Dakota, he describes such programs as “bureaucrats trying to hand out checks to make sure that your party registration matches whoever signed the checks for the rest of your life.”
The economic gut punch of the pandemic and related assistance efforts such as the expanded child tax credit popularized the idea of directly handing cash to people in need. Advocates say the programs can be administered more efficiently than traditional government assistance programs, and research suggests they increase not only financial stability but also mental and physical health.
Still, Wiik and other Republicans argue handing out no-strings-attached cash disincentivizes work — and having fewer workers available is especially worrisome in a state with the nation’s second-lowest unemployment rate.
South Dakota is among at least six states where GOP officials have looked to ban basic income programs.
The basic income concept has been around for decades, but a 2019 experiment in Stockton, California, set off a major expansion. There, 125 individuals received $500 per month with no strings attached for two years. Independent researchers found the program improved financial stability and health, but concluded that the pandemic dampened those effects.
GOP lawmakers like Wiik fear that even experimental programs could set a dangerous precedent.
“What did Ronald Reagan say, ‘The closest thing to eternal life on this planet is a government program’?” Wiik said. “So, if you get people addicted to just getting a check from the government, it’s going to be really hard to take that away.”
The debate over basic income programs is likely to intensify as blue state lawmakers seek to expand pilot programs. Minnesota, for example, could become the nation’s first to fund a statewide program. But elected officials in red states are working to thwart such efforts — not only by fighting statewide efforts but also by preventing local communities from starting their own basic income programs.
Democratic governors in Arizona and Wisconsin recently vetoed Republican legislation banning basic income programs.
Last week, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Harris County to block a pilot program that would provide $500 per month to 1,900 low-income people in the state’s largest county, home to Houston.
Paxton, a Republican, argued the program is illegal because it violates a state constitutional provision that says local governments cannot grant public money to individuals.
Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, a Democrat, called Paxton’s move “nothing more than an attack on local government and an attempt to make headlines.”
Meanwhile, several blue states are pushing to expand these programs.
Washington state lawmakers debated a statewide basic income bill during this year’s short session. And Minnesota lawmakers are debating whether to spend $100 million to roll out one of the nation’s first statewide pilot programs.
“We’re definitely seeing that shift from pilot to policy,” said Sukhi Samra, the director of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income, which formed after the Stockton experiment.
So far, that organization has helped launch about 60 pilot programs across the country that will provide $250 million in unconditional aid, she said.
This is an effective policy that helps our families, and this can radically change the way that we address poverty in this country.
– Sukhi Samra, Mayors for a Guaranteed Income director
Despite pushback in some states, Samra said recent polling commissioned by the group shows broad support of basic income programs. And the programs have shown success in supplementing — not replacing — social safety net programs, she said.
The extra cash gives recipients freedom of choice. People can fix a flat tire, cover school supplies or celebrate a child’s birthday for the first time.
“There’s no social safety net program that allows you to do that.” she said. “ … This is an effective policy that helps our families, and this can radically change the way that we address poverty in this country.”
Basic income experiments
The proliferation of basic income projects has been closely studied by researchers.
Though many feared that free cash would dissuade people from working, that hasn’t been the case, said Sara Kimberlin, the executive director and senior research scholar at Stanford University’s Center on Poverty and Inequality.
Stanford’s Basic Income Lab has tracked more than 150 basic income pilots across the country. Generally, those offer $500 or $1,000 per month over a short period.
“There isn’t anywhere in the United States where you can live off of $500 a month,” she said. “At the same time, $500 a month really makes a tremendous difference for someone who is living really close to the edge.”
Kimberlin said the research on basic income programs has so far been promising, though it’s unclear how long the benefits may persist once programs conclude. Still, she said, plenty of research shows how critical economic stability in childhood is to stability in adulthood — something both the basic income programs and the pandemic-era child tax credit can address.
Over the past five years, basic income experiments have varied across the country.
Last year, California launched the nation’s first state-funded pilot programs targeting former foster youth.
In Colorado, the Denver Basic Income Project aimed to help homeless individuals. After early successes, the Denver City Council awarded funding late last year to extend that program, which provides up to $1,000 per month to hundreds of participants.
A 2021 pilot launched in Cambridge, Massachusetts, provided $500 a month over 18 months to 130 single caregivers. Research from the University of Pennsylvania found the Cambridge program increased employment, the ability to cover a $400 emergency expense, and food and housing security among participants.
Children in participating families were more likely to enroll in Advanced Placement courses, earned higher grades and had reduced absenteeism.
“It was really reaffirming to hear that when families are not stressed out, they are able to actually do much better,” said Geeta Pradhan, president of the Cambridge Community Foundation, which worked on the project.
Pradhan said basic income programs are part of a national trend in “trust-based philanthropy,” which empowers individuals rather than imposing top-down solutions to fight poverty.
“There is something that I think it does to people’s sense of empowerment, a sense of agency, the freedom that you feel,” she said. “I think that there’s some very important aspects of humanity that are built into these programs.”
While the pilot concluded, the Cambridge City Council committed $22 million in federal pandemic aid toward a second round of funding. Now, nearly 2,000 families earning at or below 250% of the federal poverty level are receiving $500 monthly payments, said Sumbul Siddiqui, a city council member.
Siddiqui, a Democrat, pushed for the original pilot when she was mayor during the pandemic. While she said the program has proven successful, it’s unclear whether the city can find a sustainable source of funding to keep it going long term.
States look to expand pilots
Tomas Vargas Jr. was among the 125 people who benefited from the Stockton, California, basic income program that launched in 2019.
At the time, he heard plenty of criticism from people who said beneficiaries would blow their funds on drugs and alcohol or quit their jobs.
“Off of $500 a month, which amazed me,” said Vargas, who worked part time at UPS.
Tomas Vargas Jr. is pictured with his wife and two children
Tomas Vargas Jr. was among the 125 people who participated in the 2019 basic income experiment in Stockton, Calif. Vargas, pictured here with his family, said the $500 a month allowed him to be a better father and take off time to pursue a better career. (Courtesy of Tomas Vargas Jr.)
But he said the cash gave him breathing room. He had felt stuck at his job, but the extra money gave him the freedom to take time off to interview for better jobs.
Unlike other social service programs like food stamps, he didn’t have to worry about losing out if his income went up incrementally. The cash allowed him to be a better father, he said, as well as improved his confidence and mental health.
The experience prompted him to get into the nonprofit sector. Financially stable, he now works at Mayors for a Guaranteed Income.
“The person I was five years ago is not the person that I am now,” he said.
Washington state Sen. Claire Wilson, a Democrat, said basic income is a proactive way to disrupt the status quo maintained by other anti-poverty efforts.
“I have a belief that our systems in our country have never been put in place to get people out of them,” she said. “They kept people right where they are.”
Wilson chairs the Human Services Committee, which considered a basic income bill this session that would have created a pilot program to offer 7,500 people a monthly amount equivalent to the fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in their area.
The basic income bill didn’t progress during Washington’s short legislative session this year, but Wilson said lawmakers would reconsider the idea next year. While she champions the concept, she said there’s a lot of work to be done convincing skeptics.
In Minnesota, where lawmakers are considering a $100 million statewide basic income pilot program, some Republicans balked at the concept of free cash and its cost to taxpayers.
“Just the cost alone should be a concern,” Republican state Rep. Jon Koznick said during a committee meeting this month.
State Rep. Athena Hollins, a Democrat who sponsored the legislation, acknowledged the hefty request, but said backers would support a scaled-down version and “thought it was really important to get this conversation started.”
Much of the conversation in committee centered on local programs in cities such as Minneapolis and St. Paul. St. Paul Mayor Melvin Carter, a Democrat, told lawmakers the city’s 2020 pilot saw “groundbreaking” results.
After scraping by for years, some families were able to put money into savings for the first time, he said. Families experienced less anxiety and depression. And the pilot disproved the “disparaging tropes” from critics about people living in poverty, the mayor said.
Carter told lawmakers that the complex issue of economic insecurity demands statewide solutions.
“I am well aware that the policy we’re proposing today is a departure from what we’re all used to,” he said. “In fact, that’s one of my favorite things about it.”
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