New Golden State Stimulus checks to start going out next week

State officials expect the latest round of state stimulus payments to be issued to Californians by next Tuesday, Aug. 31.

That means eligible Californians earning between $30,000 to $75,000 a year can soon expect to see the $600 payments in their bank accounts. The California Department of Finance previously said the payments would be issued in early September.

Andrew LePage, a spokesman for the Franchise Tax Board, said the state plans to distribute the checks in batches every two weeks. So far, state officials have identified about 9 million tax returns eligible for the payment.

“We expect to receive more returns qualifying for (the Golden State Stimulus II) between now and the Oct. 15 filing deadline,” LePage said in an email statement.

Direct deposit payments should appear in bank accounts a few days after they are issued, according to LePage. Paper checks will take about three weeks to arrive after they are mailed.

This round of stimulus checks is an extension of the Golden State Stimulus program, announced in January, which provided one-time $600 payments to low-income Californians earning less than $30,000 a year. The program mirrors a federal stimulus payment program distributed last year under the The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act with the intent to help residents weather economic turmoil brought on by the health crisis.

Residents who already received the first round of checks and did not claim a dependent in their tax returns will not be eligible to receive another payment, according to the Franchise Tax Board.

Some families who were eligible to receive the first stimulus check earlier this year can qualify to receive a $500 check if they have claimed a one or more dependents. Undocumented Californians with Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers, who did not qualify to receive federal COVID-19 aid due to their immigration status, and meet the same criteria can expect to receive higher payments of $1,000.

Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed this batch of stimulus payments in May as the state faced a onetime budget surplus of $76 billion amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Overall, about two-thirds of Californians are expected to receive a stimulus check from the state this year.