The Supreme Court of Texas (SCOTX) on Tuesday blocked Harris County from making $500 guaranteed income payments to certain individuals on April 24 after Attorney General Ken Paxton filed an emergency motion to intervene and pause what he calls unlawful payments.
SCOTX announced on X that it would honor Mr. Paxton’s appeal.
“Without regard to the merits, the order prohibits the county from making payments pending further order,” the Supreme Court said in its post. “The Court requests Harris County’s response to the State’s emergency motion for temporary relief by 4.30 p.m. April 29.”
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) first sought a temporary injunction against the handout program, but the lower court denied their request for emergency relief, prompting the OAG to file a motion with SCOTX.
Mr. Paxton indicated the guaranteed income program violates the Texas Constitution which forbids “any county, city, town or other political corporation or subdivision of the State … to grant public money or thing of value in aid of, or to any individual.”
“Harris County’s guaranteed income scheme plainly violates the Texas Constitution,” said Mr. Paxton in prepared remarks. “Harris County officials cannot continue to abuse their power and the people’s money to score political points, and we will fight every step of the way to hold them accountable.”
Harris County’s Uplift Harris Guaranteed Income Pilot program was prepared to send $500 a month to 1,928 low-income residents for an 18-month period beginning on Wednesday. Eligible households would have an income below 200 percent of the federal poverty level.
However, according to the Harris County website, being a U.S. citizen is not a requirement to be eligible for the guaranteed income.
Non-citizens are also eligible for the program if they meet certain requirements including: if they have a green card, are an asylum seeker, a refugee, come from Cuba or Haiti and have been granted permission to stay in the United States, among others.
In addition, “someone who has experienced severe abuse or cruelty and is granted certain protections under U.S. immigration law,” is also eligible for the guaranteed income, according to the program’s description.
“The Uplift Harris Guaranteed Income Pilot aims to reduce income inequality, improve self-sufficiency, and create a framework for future anti-poverty initiatives in the county,” the Uplift Harris County website states.
Harris County is using $20.5 million in COVID-19 funds for the program that it received through the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act. Those funds were distributed and intended to be used for COVID-19 relief initiatives.
“Today’s decision is disappointing but not surprising given how politicized we’ve seen the Texas Supreme Court become,” said Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee in a prepared statement. “We’ve 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.”
Mr. Menefee said he will continue to protect the guaranteed income program.
“It’s unfortunate the court would take such an extraordinary step to block a program that would help people in Harris County—even temporarily. The Court knew that the first payments were scheduled to go out tomorrow. I will keep fighting to protect this program, and I look forward to continuing to argue that Uplift Harris is good legally and morally.”
Harris County Commissioner Rodney Ellis also issued a statement saying he was “incredibly disappointed” with the court’s administrative stay.
“This frivolous lawsuit was a broadside attack on Harris County families struggling to make ends meet by state extremists and a hyper-partisan Texas Supreme Court. Now 1,900 working families who were expecting to have their lives changed have been robbed of a critical hand-up,” Mr. Ellis said. “We will not be deterred. We will continue to fight for those 1,900 families, and every one of the 750k people living under the crushing weight of poverty in Harris County.”
