Here’s the latest and biggest Basic Income news:
‣ Guaranteed Basic Income Policies Proposed at State Level in Over Half the US
‣ Registration Now Open for This Year’s BIEN Congress in Toronto, Canada
‣ Rural Guaranteed Minimum Income Initiative Launched in Three US Counties
‣ Details of Next Round of Ireland’s Permanent Basic Income for the Arts Announced
‣ Public Safety Transition Committee Recommends Addressing Root Causes With a Basic Income Program in Aurora, Illinois
‣ Georgia’s Medicaid Work Requirement Spent Twice as Much on Administrative Costs Than on Actual Health Care
Article of the Month Highlight
Something went mega-viral this month that I do recommend reading if you missed it. It was a blog post by Matt Shumer about the current state of AI titled, “Something Big is Happening.” He argues that a turning point has been reached as of Feb 2026 with the launch of the newest models, and that going forward, because the automation of programming was tackled first, AI can now help make better AI to tackle everything else. If he’s right, then a universal basic income floor needs to be built immediately -- in advance of the significant labor market disruption that is to come within the next 2 years.
ITSA Foundation News Update:
As of next week, Project Comingle should be up to 10 active members actively creating a real basic income floor together for each other via automated mutual aid. By the end of next month, it should be up to at least 40 members and gain the ability before the end of March to scale up at a much faster rate in April and potentially reach over 1,000 by May.
If you’re interested in joining the beta pilot phase as one of the first 100 members, please email me at [email protected] to be added to the wait list, and please let me know if you expect to be a net donor or net recipient each month.
Each new member is really helping to find bugs and figure out fixes to be added to the next software update. If you’re willing to help as a real-use tester, the feedback from your experience is immensely helpful in getting Comingle ready for prime-time.
Guaranteed Basic Income Policies Proposed at State Level in Over Half the US [link]
Legislators for a Guaranteed Income says there are currently more than 20 bills in 11 states proposing some form of statewide guaranteed basic income program and at least 65 bills in another 15 states that would implement cash-based policies similar to GBI
The "Act Significantly Alleviating Poverty," or ASAP, is a comprehensive legislative omnibus bill aimed at ending poverty introduced by Massachusetts State Representative Marjorie Decker, who is also a founding member of Legislators for a Guaranteed Income (LGI)
In Washington, SB 6212 would pilot a guaranteed basic income for families with children who are eligible for free or reduced-price school meals. Introduced by State Senator T'wina Nobles, a founding LGI member, the pilot would give $300 per month per child to 1,000 randomly selected families for 24 months
Registration Now Open for This Year’s BIEN Congress in Toronto, Canada [link]
The 2026 BIEN Congress - the international annual conference for basic income academics and advocates - is now open for registration
The conference that was going to take place in the US for the first time this year will now be taking place in Toronto from August 19th to the 22nd
This year’s theme positions UBI as a unifying response to humanity’s polycrisis—it cuts across policy silos and reconnects income security to broader questions of justice, sustainability, and democratic capacity. The theme invites critical examination of UBI as part of a renewed social contract capable of countering precarity, fragmentation, and exclusion in complex, interdependent systems
Rural Guaranteed Minimum Income Initiative Launched in Three US Counties [link]
1,600 people in three rural US counties are now receiving $1,500 a month for 16 months
The goal is to demonstrate guaranteed minimum income’s efficacy in rural counties in all 50 states
Another goal is to feed the data into UBIdata — one of the UBI projects ITSA is helping fund — to help further prove that basic income works
Details of Next Round of Ireland’s Permanent Basic Income for the Arts Announced [link]
Artists based in Ireland will be invited to apply for BIA in the coming months and 2,000 eligible artists will be selected to receive the payment of €325 per week
The weekly basic income payment will last for 3 years and will also feature a tapering-off period of 3 months at the end of the cycle
Artists can be selected every other 3-year cycle but not two consecutive cycles in a row, unless they were in the initial pilot, in which case they can apply for round 2
Public Safety Transition Committee Recommends Addressing Root Causes With a Basic Income Program in Aurora, Illinois [link]
Aurora Mayor John Laesch’s Public Transition Committees are recommending a package that includes a general guaranteed basic income of $500/mo
The committee’s chair, Avalon Betts-Gaston, said its members made its recommendations so that they can begin to think about public safety differently. The core of their recommendations came from thinking about prevention
Key quote: “How do we prevent harm from happening in communities in the first place? Public safety has traditionally been rooted in deterrence, right? And while deterrence does have a prevention component, it really does not address the key, root causes of what produces harm in our communities.”
Georgia’s Medicaid Work Requirement Spent Twice as Much on Administrative Costs Than on Actual Health Care [link]
Most of the tax dollars used to launch and implement the nation’s only Medicaid work requirement program have gone toward paying administrative costs rather than covering health care for Georgians
As of April the Georgia program had spent $54.2 million on administrative costs since 2021, compared to $26.1 million spent on health care costs
Congressional Republicans cited the success of the program when they passed the law to extend work requirements on Medicaid to all 50 states starting in 2027
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Scott Santens
Founder & CEO, ITSA Foundation
