{"id":2228888,"date":"2024-04-24T08:08:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T12:08:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texas-supreme-court-temporarily-blocks-harris-county-guaranteed-income-program\/"},"modified":"2024-04-24T08:12:44","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T12:12:44","slug":"texas-supreme-court-temporarily-blocks-harris-county-guaranteed-income-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/texas-supreme-court-temporarily-blocks-harris-county-guaranteed-income-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Supreme Court halts Harris County basic income initiative temporarily"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ftexas-supreme-court-temporarily-blocks-harris-county-guaranteed-income-program%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2228888&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The Texas Supreme Court has temporarily blocked Harris County&#8217;s &#8220;Uplift Harris&#8221; guaranteed income pilot\u2064 program. Attorney General Ken Paxton&#8217;s request for a stay was granted after\u2063 lower courts denied his injunction. The program aimed to provide $500 monthly payments to 1,928 residents\u200c in\u2063 need. \u2063Paxton argues \u200cthe program violates the\u200c Texas\u200b Constitution, while supporters emphasize the importance of aiding \u200cfamilies in need.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>(The Center Square) \u2013 The Texas Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an administrative stay to temporarily block Harris County\u2019s \u201cUplift Harris\u201d guaranteed income pilot program from going into effect, granting a request filed earlier in the day by Attorney General Ken Paxton.<\/p>\n<p>This is after two lower courts, the 165th District Court and the 14th Court of Appeals, denied his request for a temporary injunction, ruling in favor of Harris County in a lawsuit Paxton filed to stop it from going into effect.<\/p>\n<p>More than 82,000 Harris County residents had applied to participate in the program as of its Feb. 2 deadline. Participants were already chosen and slated to receive their first payments April 24.<\/p>\n<p>Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo first <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/texas\/article_0845e946-1b3b-11ee-9ad5-3b45ae699e3e.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a><\/strong> in June 2023 the plan to create the program using $20.5 million in COVID-19 relief money the county received through the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act. The Democratic-controlled Harris County Commissioner\u2019s Court approved the program despite the federal government stipulating that the funds could only be used for COVID-19-related programs.<\/p>\n<p>According to the plan, 1,928 Harris County residents would be chosen by lottery to participate after meeting certain criteria, including living at 200% below the poverty level in the county\u2019s poorest 10 zip codes. Those chosen would receive $500 cash payments every month for 18 months with \u201cno strings attached.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In January, state Sen. Paul Bettencourt, R-Houston, requested Paxton issue a formal opinion on the program, arguing it\u2019s unconstitutional. He cited Article III of the Texas Constitution, which states that the Texas legislature \u201cshall have no power to authorize any county, city, town, or other political subdivision of the state to lend its credit or to grant public money or thing of value in aid of, or to any individual.\u201d He also asked that the AG determine if counties have the authority to enact a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/oakland-to-enroll-600-families-of-color-in-guranteed-income-pilot-program\/\" title=\"Oakland to Enroll 600 Families of Color in \u2018Guranteed Income\u2019 Pilot Program\">guaranteed income program<\/a> and if doing so violated the gift prohibition in the Texas Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>In response, Paxton sued to stop the program from going into effect, arguing the Texas Constitution expressly forbids \u201cany county, city, town or other political corporation or subdivision of the State \u2026 to grant public money or thing of value in aid of, or to any individual.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHarris County\u2019s program to give public money away with no conditions, no control over expenditure of that money, and no guarantee of public benefit is prohibited,\u201d he added. \u201cThe Constitution also provides that everyone has \u2018equal rights, and no man, or set of men, is entitled to exclusive separate public emoluments.\u2019 This lottery-based handout violates the Texas Constitution because the selection of recipients is inherently arbitrary. County governments have limited authority to act and, like all governments, can only act in accordance with the Constitution. Harris County has exceeded that authority.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTaxpayer money must be spent lawfully and used to advance the public interest, not merely redistributed with no accountability or reasonable expectation of a general benefit. I am suing to stop officials in Harris County from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/da-fani-willis-disqualification-ruling-expected-this-week\/\" title=\"DA Fani Willis Disqualification Ruling Due Soon\">abusing public funds<\/a> for political gain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee, who\u2019s defending the program in court, argues \u201chelping families in need is a proper use of government funds. Giving people the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty is both morally sound and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/arizona-governor-doug-ducey-signs-election-integrity-bill-reforming-absentee-voting\/\" title=\"Arizona Governor Doug Ducey Signs Election Integrity Bill Reforming Absentee Voting\">good public policy<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also filed a brief with the OAG arguing the program doesn\u2019t violate the constitutional provision because it serves a \u201c\u2018public purpose,\u2019 which is the relevant test created by Texas courts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>After the Texas Supreme Court issued an administrative stay, Menefee, a Democrat, said the high court\u2019s decision was \u201cnot surprising given how politicized we\u2019ve seen the Texas Supreme Court become. We\u2019ve already seen one justice publicly disparage Harris County officials during a speech at a political event and make clear his goal of undermining the County.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harris County courts are overwhelmingly run by Democratic judges. The Texas Supreme Court has a majority Republican bench and has been <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/texas\/article_55fb6964-00c7-11ef-87d8-abc0f6b309f0.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">targeted<\/a><\/strong> by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, a Democrat, to flip seats in the November election.<\/p>\n<p>The high court directed the county to respond to the state\u2019s motion for emergency relief by Monday. The court is expected to rule shortly thereafter.<\/p>\n<p>Harris County is not the first to create such a program in Texas. In May 2022, Austin\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/missouri-attorney-general-blasts-kansas-city-mayors-open-invitation-to-migrants\/\" title=\"Missouri's Attorney General strongly criticizes Kansas City mayor's open call to migrants\">city council members approved<\/a> a $1.1 million guaranteed income pilot program to be administered through a nonprofit, UpTogether, using taxpayer money. In September 2023, they allocated another $1.3 million of taxpayer money to fund a second guaranteed income program.<\/p>\n<p>Former Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner first advocated for a guaranteed income program as one of 43 Democratic mayors who <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thecentersquare.com\/national\/article_fa00b2b8-a219-11eb-be71-072d5ad8efe4.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">launched<\/a><\/strong> \u201cMayors for a Guaranteed Income\u201d in April 2021. They argued \u201ceconomic security isn\u2019t a new challenge or a partisan issue\u201d and one way to end or reduce poverty was to guarantee a certain level of income to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/d-c-protesters-rally-outside-of-u-s-capitol-to-pressure-lawmakers-for-bigger-stimulus-checks\/\" title=\"D.C. protesters rally outside of U.S. Capitol to pressure lawmakers for bigger stimulus checks\">low-income residents<\/a> with no strings attached \u2013 funded by taxpayers.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Texas Supreme Court has granted an administrative stay to temporarily halt Harris County&#8217;s &#8220;Uplift Harris&#8221; basic income pilot program. Attorney General Ken Paxton&#8217;s request for the block was approved. This action comes after rulings by the 165th District Court and the 14th<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2228889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP24089637868935-1024x683.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2228888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/wex-s3.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/AP24089637868935-1024x683.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2228888"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2228888\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2228889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2228888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2228888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2228888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}