Democrats in Oregon are poised to submit new legislation on Tuesday that would offer low-income Oregon workers a one-time payment of $600.
Workers who earned the Earned Income Tax Credit, a tax benefit for low- and moderate-income workers and families, would get the stimulus checks immediately in 2020.
The Stimulus Check Will Be A One-Time Payment
The idea would distribute smaller payments to a large number of workers than prior legislative stimulus payment proposals. Workers who stayed on the job during the epidemic might get up to $2,000 in rewards, according to lawmakers who reintroduced the concept at the start of the current parliamentary session.
About 260,000 workers would be eligible, according to Rep. Andrea Valderrama, D-Portland, who is co-sponsoring the new bill. Lawmakers also intend to put aside up to $15 million to offer comparable payouts to undocumented workers who were denied the Earned Income Tax Credit due to their immigration status.
The bill is set to be submitted to the House Rules Committee on Tuesday, with a public hearing scheduled for Thursday, according to Valderrama. The bill’s overall cost is projected to be around $180 million.
The new law would take the place of a different plan proposed earlier this session that would have provided workers in medium- to extremely high-risk jobs with payouts of up to $1,000.
According to Valderrama, the original bill was dropped because forcing workers to apply for the money may cause payments to be delayed until 2023 or 2024.
The current plan, on the other hand, would require the Department of Revenue to make payments to qualifying workers automatically. The stimulus checks would be delivered no later than the end of July.
