A day after House Democrats proposed $500 million in bonuses for low-income workers who stayed on the job during the pandemic, Gov. Charlie Baker said he believes the idea is “the right thing to do.”
Baker on Tuesday said he still wants to see more details about the premium pay, which will feature in the American Rescue Plan Act and surplus spending plan the House will debate this week, but he voiced broad-strokes support for a program that would go well beyond his $40 million proposal aimed only at state workers.
“While I hesitate until I see the fine print on most things to comment, I do think conceptually this is something that’s the right thing to do and we’ll do the best we can to implement it,” Baker said in a GBH News interview.
The plan from House leaders would allow employees who worked in-person during the state of emergency and who earned up to 300 percent of the federal poverty limit to receive one-time checks between $500 and $2,000.
Their bill carves out $40 million for state workers, similar to a suggestion Baker made in his surplus spending bill.
Representatives on Thursday will debate the $3.65 billion spending plan, which would use most of the state’s roughly $1.5 billion fiscal 2021 tax surplus and more than half of state government’s ARPA funds.
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