Is it a violation of the Texas Constitution for a city to give money to its low-income residents?
On Thursday, a Texas state court judge answered with a definitive “no” — the first ruling in what is shaping up to be a long legal fight over that question.
“There is sufficient evidence to show that guaranteed income programs are successful, so why wouldn’t we believe it?” Judge Ursula Hall said.
In her ruling, Hall blocked a push by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) to keep Harris County — the state’s most populous county and the home of Houston — from implementing Uplift Harris, which would give $500 per week to 1,900 low-income residents.
“Proud to defend an important program that’ll help folks lift themselves out of poverty,” Harris County Attorney Christian Menefee wrote Thursday on the social platform X.
“The state will appeal. But we will keep fighting,” he added.
The Harris County measure followed similar experiments with guaranteed income in Austin, El Paso and San Antonio, according to The Texas Tribune. The Austin experiment found that recipients — who had been more likely to face eviction than the average Texan when the study began — became more housing secure as their peers across Texas faced worsening housing insecurity, a report on the program by the Urban Institute found. (Their food security increased, as well.) The researchers found that the Austin recipients largely spent the money on housing, and most kept their current employment.