About 23 million Californians will be eligible to receive $1,050 checks under a new inflation relief package, the governor announced June 26.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, Senate President Pro Tempore Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D-Lakewood) agreed to allocate $17 billion from the state’s budget toward inflation relief. Part of that fund, about $9.5 billion, will go toward direct payments to residents.
The move comes as Californians are paying the highest gasoline prices in the country, with most counties averaging above $6 per gallon.
“California’s budget addresses the state’s most pressing needs, and prioritizes getting dollars back into the pockets of millions of Californians who are grappling with global inflation and rising prices of everything from gas to groceries,” Newsom said in a statement.
The relief package will also suspend the gas tax, which was expected to rise on July 1, and provide additional funds to help people pay their rent and utility bills, Newsom said.
“That’s more money in your pocket to help you fill your gas tank and put food on the table,” the governor wrote on Twitter June 26.
Atkins said the budget agreement will “bring relief to taxpayers in a significant and equitable way, putting our state’s wealth to work for Californians” in a post on Twitter the same day.
For the last few months, Republican and Democrat lawmakers have been introducing their own ideas to put money back in residents’ pockets. While Republicans urged the Democrats to come to an agreement to suspend the gas tax, Democrats urged the state to investigate the “real cause” of high gas prices by probing oil industrialists.
The inflation relief package will come directly from the state’s $97 billion budget surplus and will be sent based on income, household size, and tax-filing status, similar to the same way stimulus checks that were sent out during the COVID-19 pandemic.
By Jamie Joseph
