Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has again sued Harris County to stop its implementation of Uplift 2.0, a second iteration of its guaranteed basic income program, the first of which was stopped by the Texas Supreme Court.
Earlier this year State Sen. Paul Bettencourt requested an attorney general opinion over the lawfulness of the original program, Uplift Harris, which intended to give nearly 2,000 Harris County recipients $500 per month for 18 months through a lottery-style program. The program’s total cost, including administrative fees, was $20.5 million, and they planned to use American Rescue Plan Act funding. Paxton sued the county to stop the program and ultimately the Texas Supreme Court halted it before the first disbursements were issued.
Not to be dissuaded, the Democrat majority on the Harris County Commissioners Court retooled the program, making changes such as requiring funds to be disbursed on prepaid debit cards rather than a method of the recipients’ choice and restricting what the funds could be spent on. With an additional $400,000 price tag, they called this iteration Uplift 2.0.
“Based on all currently available public information, it appears that Harris County intends to re-enroll all previously selected participants and provide them with a reloadable debit card with limited spending categories. Harris County did not make any attempt to address the program’s failure regarding ‘the public purposes of development and diversification of the economy of the state,’” reads the state’s filing.
During the vote to reauthorize the program, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo acknowledged that the state might deem it illegal again, yet they wanted to try it anyway.
“What we can do to get passed the state’s legal argument, which we do not believe is merited…is have another program, Uplift Harris 2.0,” Hidalgo said at the time, “They’ll possibly want to fight it again so, if this ends up stuck in court again we may or may not be able to move forward.”
In a statement, Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee said, “Our 1st basic income program was legal. The Texas Supreme Court disagreed, so we created a new program to address concerns. If it wasn’t clear before, it’s clear now: [Attorney General Ken Paxton’s] goal is to tank a program that will help Texans in need. We won’t back down. See you in court.”
In a statement accompanying the filing, Paxton said, “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. 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.”
Hidalgo has said that if the program gets caught up in the court again they would relocate the money to programs already in existence to support people in poverty.
