Attorney General Ken Paxton Sues Harris County to Stop New Unlawful “Guaranteed Income” Scheme
Paxton Says It Violates Texas Supreme Court’s Previous Ruling
September 20, 2024 – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Harris County Commissioners Court for attempting to restart its unlawful “guaranteed income” program despite being ordered to halt all similar cash disbursements in a virtually identical case.
In April, Attorney General Paxton sued Harris County to stop an unlawful “guaranteed income” welfare scheme called “Uplift Harris” that sought to redistribute public money with “no strings attached” to 1,928 Harris County residents—including some classifications of noncitizens. The Texas Constitution explicitly rejects such programs and 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.”
The Supreme Court of Texas stopped the unlawful program while litigation continued, noting “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.”
Following this, however, the Harris County Commissioners Court voted to enact a substantially similar welfare scheme—with significantly increased administrative costs—despite the clear direction from the Texas Supreme Court. Based on available public information, Harris County plans to simply re-enroll the same residents previously enrolled in the prior version of the unlawful program.
“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 Attorney General Paxton. “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.”
