Texas Att. Gen. Ken Paxton has filed a lawsuit against the Harris County Commissioners Court to halt the restarting of what he describes as an unlawful “guaranteed income” initiative in Houston.
This move is in response to the county’s efforts to revive a program that the Texas Supreme Court had previously deemed unconstitutional.
According to Paxton’s office, the program in question, known as “Uplift Harris,” was designed to distribute public funds without restrictions to nearly 2,000 residents of Harris County, including some noncitizens.
Uplift Harris County Guaranteed Income Pilot Program, introduced by Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo in 2023, provided monthly payments of approximately $500 for 18 months to 1,928 residents. Payments were distributed via direct deposits or pre-paid debit cards.
Paxton’s recent lawsuit claimed that the program is unconstitutional because it relies on arbitrary criteria for randomly selecting recipients who have applied.
To qualify, applicants must be at least 200% below the federal poverty level and reside in designated “high-poverty ZIP codes” within Harris County. While over 82,000 individuals applied from ten different ZIP codes, only 2% were ultimately chosen, according to a report from KHOU 11.
In April, Paxton successfully sought an injunction against this initiative, arguing that it violated the Texas Constitution, which prohibits local governments from granting public money to individuals, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.
“Harris County acts as though the Texas Constitution does not apply to them and as though they do not have to abide by the Texas Supreme Court’s rulings,” said Paxton via press release.
“Using public funds in this way directly violates the law. Harris County is willing to undermine the legal process out of apparent desperation to push this money into certain hands as quickly as possible,” he added.
The Texas Supreme Court had previously suspended the Uplift Harris program, expressing concerns over its constitutionality.
The court previously noted that “the State has raised serious doubts about the constitutionality of the Uplift Harris program, and this potential violation of the Texas Constitution could not be remedied or undone if payments were to commence while the underlying appeal proceeds.”
A recent court filing from the attorney general’s office lays out why Paxton finds the program unconstitutional, besides the sole objection against the program’s arbitrary selection process for its applicants and the very few applicants (2%) approved on a subjective basis.
In response to the lawsuit, Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee posted a statement via X, saying, “Texas Republicans sued Harris County over our guaranteed basic income pilot program, which uses federal funds to provide $500 per month to some of the lowest income families in the county.”
“This is nothing more than an attack on local government and an attempt to make headlines,” Menefee added.
