A state senator continues to assault assured fundamental earnings plans after a Houston-area program introduced it could ship $500 a month to among the area’s poorest residents.
State Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Republican from Houston, despatched a letter to the state’s lawyer common in January asking him to declare the Harris County earnings plan unconstitutional.
Bettencourt’s request got here on the identical day that this system — known as Uplift Harris — began taking purposes. The Uplift Harris program plans to offer eligible households in Harris County, which incorporates Houston, $500 a month for as much as 18 months.
County officers used greater than $20 million of federal COVID-19 aid from the American Rescue Plan to fund the undertaking.
This system acquired greater than 76,000 candidates, in line with The Houston Chronicle. As purposes for this system closed on Friday, Bettencourt appeared on Fox Information to additional voice his unhappiness with this system.
“We simply cannot hand out cash like popcorn on road corners to those that stroll by,” Bettencourt informed Fox.
Bettencourt argued in his letter that Uplift Harris violates the Texas Structure’s “reward prohibition” clause that claims the state legislature can not authorize any “county, metropolis, city, or different political subdivision of the state” to grant public cash to any particular person.
Bettencourt informed the outlet that evaluating Austin’s assured earnings program, which gave $1,000 a month to low-income households, is like evaluating “apples to oranges” as a result of Harris County is enacting its program on the county stage somewhat than the town stage.
“The purpose I am making about counties concerned with common fundamental earnings is that it hasn’t occurred earlier than,” Bettencourt informed Fox. “We do not have anybody else within the state in addition to Harris doing that. And counties are completely different than home-rule cities. The state provides [counties] the authority as an extension of the state to do sure duties.”
Christian Menefree, an lawyer for Harris County, responded to Bettencourt’s claims in a quick to the state lawyer common on Friday, arguing that this system doesn’t violate the reward clause, in line with Houston Public Media.
