IT'S GOING TO START PAYING THEM.

WE SENT KPIX 5'S JOHN RAMOS TO

FIND OUT HOW THIS "UNIVERSAL

INCOME" EXPERIMENT WILL WORK.

During the Great Recession,

Stockton gained infamy by being

the largest city in America to

declare bankruptcy. Even now it

suffers twice the state average

of unemployment and half its

workers make only minimum wage.

That is ITS status quoâ John

Ramos/standup

"But in the last election, the

city elected a new mayor who is

NOT afraid to think outside the

box." When 26-year old Michael

Tubbs became Stockton's

youngest- ever mayor in 2017 he

arrived with ideas to challenge

the status quo. And now,

Stockton will soon be the site

of a fascinating social

experiment. Mayor Michael

Tubbs/City of Stockton "Ideally,

I would like to serve 100

families for 18 months at 500

dollars a month." The so-called

"SEED" project will give a small

group of low-income residents a

modest, no- strings attached

monthly income. Funded by a

million dollar private grant

from a tech-based group called

the Economic Security Project,

SEED creates a real-world

research model of what's known

as a Universal Basic Income.

(Mayor) "They were looking for a

city to pilot what would a

"basic income" look like? And

what could that do for people's

lives?" As each new tech

innovation removes more and more

humans from the workforce, there

have been calls for some sort of

basic income to support the

people left out of the economy.

Organizers say the SEED program

will track the way money is

spent and how it affects the

lives of those receiving it.

They would like to one day see

it extended to every

Americanâalthough no one is

offering WHO should bear such an

enormous cost. Hector Lara/Exec.

Dir., Reinvent So. Stockton

Coalition

"We really hope that through

this implementation we can learn

from thatâand that may shape

future policy, it may shape

future ideas around where this

funding would come from."

No public money is going into

the project but the very concept

of a universal basic income is

unpopular with some people who

see it as a revival of the old

"welfare state." But the mayor

believes something has to

changeâhe says the people he

represents simply aren't making

it. (Mayor) "My premise is the

status quo is unacceptable and I

didn't get elected to be LIKED.

I got elected to DO things that

actually make a difference."

No one knows if a basic income

will ever be embraced but

business's need for workers IS

shrinking. And that's left

policy makers searching for ways

to bridge the growing gap

between the "haves" and the

"have nots." In StocktonSEED

PROGRAM HAVE YET TO BE DECIDED..

SUCH AS.. WHO WILL BE ELIGIBLE..

AND HOW THEY'LL BE TRACKED. BUT

THE MAYOR SAYS: HE HOPES TO SEND

OUT THE FIRST PAYMENTS BY THE

END OF THE YEAR.