(Sacramento, CA) — Six-hundred-dollar checks are on their way to millions of low-income Californians, along with grants for small businesses that have been struggling after Governor Gavin Newsom signed an economic stimulus package into law Tuesday. Nearly five-point-seven million people in California will be eligible to receive the direct six-hundred-dollar payment, according to speaker of the California Assembly Anthony Rendon.
State Senator Toni Atkins says lawmakers were able to fund the aid, thanks to an unexpected surplus in the state budget. Lawmakers were anticipating a budget shortfall at the start of the pandemic, but California residents and businesses have been sending more tax revenue to the state than expected. Californians who receive the state Earned Income Tax Credit, by making under thirty-thousand-dollars in 2020 are eligible for the direct payments. They will begin receiving their payments after they file their 2020 tax returns.