AUSTIN – Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued Harris County for instituting a “guaranteed income” program that redistributes public money in a manner that allegedly violates the Texas Constitution.
Announced by Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo in 2023, the program would randomly select 1,928 eligible Harris County residents by lottery to receive $500 cash payments for 18 months with “no strings attached.”
The money comes from the $20.5 million the county received through the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act.
Paxton maintains that the Texas Constitution expressly 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.”
He further asserts that Harris County’s “lottery-based handout” violates the Texas Constitution because the selection of recipients is inherently arbitrary.
“This scheme is plainly unconstitutional,” said Paxton. “Taxpayer money must be spent lawfully and used to advance the public interest, not merely redistributed with no accountability or reasonable expectation of a general benefit. I am suing to stop officials in Harris County from abusing public funds for political gain.”
Harris County Attorney Christian D. Menefee, who will represent the defendants in the suit, gave the following statement:
“This lawsuit is nothing more than another attack on Harris County government by Republican state leaders looking to make headlines. This program is about helping people in a real way by giving them direct cash assistance—something governments have always done. I cannot for the life of me understand why any public servant would be opposed to that.
“When corporations are given taxpayer dollars, Republican leaders in Austin call it ‘economic development.’ When governments use federal dollars to actually help people, Republican leaders in Austin call it socialism.”
The state is seeking an immediate ruling to block Harris County from beginning to make payments under the program.