A statewide universal basic income pilot

Plus tenant protections and what's on tap for this week

Editor’s Note: By tradition, the Legislature works on MLK Day because the legislative clock is ticking and leading lawmakers don’t want to sacrifice a day’s worth of committee time. Typically the agenda for the day is aimed at celebrating elements of King’s legacy. We’ll have more on that later. But first, a couple of ideas that King might have experienced as bending the moral arc of the universe toward justice.

Some 7,500 struggling Washingtonians would pocket some no-strings-attached cash every month starting next summer if a proposed pilot program gets the green light from the Legislature. 

Universal basic income was the signature issue of presidential candidate Andrew Yang’s campaign in 2020. Before that, it was a pet idea of thinkers in the tech sector concerned that a wave of automation would create social upheaval by throwing millions of low-wage workers out of work. The idea’s about as simple as it sounds: No drug tests, no work mandates, no red tape—just cold hard cash.