Harris County Commissioners voted Thursday to officially end its troubled guaranteed income pilot program and reallocate $14 million in unspent federal COVID-19 relief funds.
The program, originally launched as Uplift Harris and later rebranded as the Community Prosperity Program, was designed to provide $500 per month to nearly 1,900 low-income residents.
Uplift Harris was funded with $20.5 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act.
County officials said the county had spent $1.7 million on setting up and administering both Uplift Harris and its successor.
However, the county never disbursed the funds to anyone, despite spending millions to administer the program.
Attorney General Ken Paxton led the charge against the proposals, filing a lawsuit asserting that direct cash payments violate the Texas Constitution’s prohibition on local governments granting public funds to individuals.
The Texas Supreme Court previously issued a stay halting the program.
Democrat Commissioners Rodney Ellis, Adrian Garcia, and Lesley Briones voted in favor of the reallocation.
The remaining $14 million will now be redirected to social programs.
Republican Commissioner Tom Ramsey was the lone “no” vote, having proposed the funds be used to reduce the county’s budget deficit. Ramsey’s motion failed for a lack of a second.
Ellis, who supported the program along with County Judge Lina Hidalgo—who was absent from the vote because she’s on a county trade mission to France—said ending the program was a loss for the county’s most vulnerable residents.
“The least we ought to do is go back and spend this money that was for those 10 poorest ZIP codes,” Ellis said.
The program had faced other roadblocks prior to the lawsuits.
Senate Bill 2010, introduced by State Sen. Paul Bettencourt (R–Houston) to prohibit local guaranteed income schemes, passed the Senate but failed to get a floor vote in the House.
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