ITSA Newsletter: November 2025

The Latest and Biggest Universal Basic Income News:

‣ Marshall Islands Becomes First Country to Implement a Permanent UBI

‣ Cook County, Illinois Becomes First US County to Permanently Fund GBI

‣ Bill That Would Provide a UBI of $250 a Month Introduced in US Congress

‣ Basic Income Bill in Canada Progresses Past Second Reading to Senate Committee

‣ Oregon Basic Income Pilot Program Sees Massive Reduction in Homelessness

‣ Madison, Wisconsin Basic Income Pilot Results in Increased FT Employment

UBI Article Highlight

USA Today reached out to me this month for an interview to help with an article they were working on about UBI. They also ended up interviewing former mayor of Stockton, Michael Tubbs, and one of the members of our board of directors at ITSA Foundation, Leah Hamilton, who has been working on many of the pilot results as a principal investigator for the Family Economic Policy Lab at Appalachian State University.

You can read the article here.

ITSA News Update:

I wish I could share more right now, but be on the lookout for some great news later this week in regards to some big new grant support for our UBI-focused work at ITSA Foundation. They will be making the announcement themselves soon.

In the meantime, please consider adding your support as well as a monthly donor by heading over to itsafoundation.org and clicking the donate button.

Marshall Islands Becomes First Country to Implement a Permanent UBI [link]

• In some of the biggest UBI news ever, the Marshall Islands has implemented a permanent universal basic income

• The amount is $200 every three months to all ~36,000 citizen residents which works out to being about 11% of GDP per capita

• The design is similar to Alaska’s with the money coming from a sovereign wealth fund — the Trust Fund for the People of the Republic of the Marshall Islands

Cook County, Illinois Becomes First US County to Permanently Fund GBI [link]

• Cook County, IL has decided to permanently fund guaranteed basic income programs with a starting amount of $7.5 million a year

• The monthly cash is meant to provide relief for low-income families “who have been severely impacted by inflation and federal budget cuts.”

• This is after a successful $42 million pilot program that provided $500 a month to over 3,000 residents for two years

Bill That Would Provide a UBI of $250 a Month Introduced in US Congress [link]

• Rep. Rashida Tlaib has re-introduced her BOOST Act but this time, it is a UBI and not means-tested like when it was introduced in the previous session of Congress

• If passed into law, it would provide $250 a month to everyone age 19 to 67 as an income floor upon which all other income would add to

• Those under age 19 would get $469 a month as part of her End Child Poverty Act and those over age 67 would ostensibly be covered by a reform to Social Security

Basic Income Bill in Canada Progresses Past Second Reading to Senate Committee [link]

• Bill S-206 introduced by Senator Kim Pate in the Canadian Senate in May has made it past second reading

• If passed into law, it would require the creation of a national framework in Canada for an unconditional Guaranteed Livable Basic Income for everyone over age 17

• This bill is the direct successor of Bills S-233 & C-223 introduced in 2021. S-233 passed 2nd Reading and was sent to Committee in 2023 where it died with the dissolution of the 44th Parliament

Oregon Basic Income Pilot Program Sees Massive Reduction in Homelessness [link]

• A pilot program in Oregon provided $1,000 a month for two years to 117 homeless youths aged 18 to 24

• By the end of the pilot, 91% of participants reported being in stable housing

• This pilot lacked a control group, but typically after two years, only about 50%-60% of this group would likely have been stably housed

Madison, Wisconsin Basic Income Pilot Results in Increased FT Employment [link]

• The Madison Forward Fund provided $500 a month to 155 parents with kids under age 18 for one year

• Recipients demonstrated higher full-time employment rates than people in the control group, with a steady increase in full-time employment rates over time (29% at baseline; 40% at 18 months)

• After 12 months, recipients were more likely than the control group to be actively looking for work if unemployed. Interview data indicates that many recipients were seeking to better balance employment and parental responsibilities.

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Scott Santens

Founder & CEO, ITSA Foundation