What Keisha Lance Bottoms’ Win Means for Universal Basic Income in Georgia
Summary
Keisha Lance Bottoms won Georgia’s gubernatorial election, becoming the state’s first Black woman governor and the first Democrat to lead it since 2003. Her election may protect local guaranteed-income pilots, but Republican control of the state Senate blocks a state-funded cash program from advancing.Key Facts
- Bottoms is a founding member of Mayors for a Guaranteed Income.
- Democrats hold a 91-to-86 majority in the Georgia House, while Republicans hold a 29-to-27 majority in the state Senate.
- The Senate’s Republican majority makes state-funded guaranteed-income or universal basic income legislation unlikely to pass.
- Universal basic income typically provides recurring payments to all residents; targeted guaranteed income provides cash to a specific group, such as low-income households.
- Atlanta’s I.M.P.A.C.T. pilot paid $500 monthly to 300 low-income residents during Bottoms’ mayoral administration.
- An Abt Global evaluation found recipients were more than twice as likely as a control group to afford an unexpected $400 expense and 25 percent less likely to carry medical debt.
- The evaluation found overall employment rates were unchanged while participants gained greater housing stability.
- Bottoms’ veto power could prevent statewide bans on locally or privately funded cash pilots from taking effect.
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