Last Member Drive of 2025!

Your year-end tax-deductible gift powers our local newsroom. Help raise $1 million in essential funding for LAist by December 31.
$700,442 of $1,000,000 goal
A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right
Audience-funded nonprofit news
radio tower icon laist logo
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
Subscribe
  • Listen Now Playing Listen
News

Governor Newsom: Low Income Californians Will Receive $600 Stimulus Payments This Spring

FILE: Volunteers prepare to load vehicles with boxes of food Duarte last summer. The pandemic has continued to take an economic toll. (Frederic J. Brown/ AFP via Getty Images)

Truth matters. Community matters. Your support makes both possible. LAist is one of the few places where news remains independent and free from political and corporate influence. Stand up for truth and for LAist. Make your year-end tax-deductible gift now.

This morning, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a $7.6 billion COVID-19 relief package, which includes $600 direct payments to nearly six million low income Californians.

Those payments will also be available to workers without legal status.

If you're eligible for the money, you can expect it to arrive about two months after you file your state taxes.

The bill also includes more than $2 billion to support small businesses, which Newsom called the "backbone" of the state's economy:

"We recognize the stress, the strain, that so many small businesses have been under, and we recognize as well our responsibility to do more, and do better to help support these small businesses through this very difficult and trying time."

The small business relief includes money for grants. It also waives more than $25 million in business fees for restaurants and salons forced to close because of COVID-19 restrictions.

Our news is free on LAist. To make sure you get our coverage: Sign up for our daily newsletters. To support our non-profit public service journalism: Donate Now.

You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our connected community. We are free to tell the full truth, to hold power to account without fear or favor, and to follow facts wherever they lead. Our only loyalty is to our audiences and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen our community.

Right now, LAist has lost $1.7M in annual funding due to Congress clawing back money already approved. The support we receive before year-end will determine how fully our newsroom can continue informing, serving, and strengthening Southern California.

If this story helped you today, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.

Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief

Make your tax-deductible year-end gift today

A row of graphics payment types: Visa, MasterCard, Apple Pay and PayPal, and  below a lock with Secure Payment text to the right