SALEM, Ore. – Nearly 250,000 low-income Oregon households will begin to receive one-time payments of $600 from the state of Oregon as early as this week due to a law passed by the Oregon Legislature earlier this year.
The Oregon Department of Revenue announced Wednesday that the distribution of the money through check or direct deposit would begin this week; all money should be received by July 1.
More than 236,000 households are set to receive the payment. To qualify, a member of a household must have received the Oregon Earned Income Tax Credit on their 2020 tax filing and lived in Oregon for at least the latter half of 2020. The $600 is not subject to state or federal income tax.
The total amount of one-time assistance will be around $141.8 million.
House Bill 4157 passed the state’s House and the Senate with bipartisan support. It was introduced as a means of supporting low-income Oregonians who helped the state continue to function during the first year of the coronavirus pandemic by working.
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Oregon lawmakers are far from the first elected officials to authorize payments for people. The measure comes after many Americans across the country received multiple rounds of stimulus checks during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Reuters found in December that at least 16 cities and counties were giving no-strings attached payments to some low-income people, and at least 31 other local governments had plans to do the same at the time.
Follow reporter Connor Radnovich on Twitter at @CDRadnovich.