Unlike the Baby Bonus, the pilot program had an income requirement. Participants had to be young parents, ages 18 to 24, who had income at or below 300% of the federal poverty level — about $69,000 for a three-person household.

The topic of guaranteed income has become popular among progressives in recent years, but the idea remains polarizing. Supporters of guaranteed income believe a widespread system could break cycles of poverty, while critics suggest it would encourage counterproductive spending.

Ballot questions, such as the Baby Bonus, can be placed on the ballot in Baltimore via petitions that garner at least 10,000 signatures from qualified city voters. City ballot measures almost always pass. Voters in Baltimore haven’t rejected a ballot question since 2004 when they were asked to lower the age requirement to serve on the Baltimore City Council.

The Baby Bonus ballot question is the second approved by the election board so far this year to appear on November ballots. The first approved was a measure, sponsored by the People for Elected Accountability & Civic Engagement, asking voters to slash the size of the City Council by half. David Smith, executive chairman of Sinclair Broadcast Group and co-owner of The Baltimore Sun, principally funded that petition drive.

Also likely to appear on the ballot is a question that would ask voters to reduce and cap the city’s property tax rate. That measure, proposed by a group called Renew Baltimore, submitted more than 23,000 signatures to the election board last month. Signatures have also been submitted by groups hoping to create a community wealth building fund and a fund to advocate for a regional transit authority.

Last month, a group led by former mayoral candidate Thiru Vignarajah began collecting signatures in support of a ballot question that would ask voters to establish a dedicated park system that could not be disrupted by private development. The proposal is aimed at derailing the proposed redevelopment of Harborplace which calls for 900 apartments to be built in a conjoined tower on the city’s waterfront.

The deadline to submit signatures for proposed ballot questions is July 29.

Baltimore has seen increased petitioning activity in recent years as it has become apparent that the process is the fastest track for citizens — in some cases the most wealthy or well-funded — to pass laws. The cost of campaigns to place questions on the ballot have likewise ballooned. The People for Elected Accountability & Civic Engagement has spent more than $326,000 this cycle in support of its council-slashing measure, while Renew Baltimore has dropped more than $268.000, campaign finance records show.

The Baby Bonus campaign has bucked that trend, however. Records show organizers spent just $3,553. Golden said most petitions were circulated by volunteers.

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