Texas Justices Block Harris County’s Low-Income Handouts

Texas’s Harris County, home to nearly 5 million people, can’t give $20.5 million to low-income residents under a no-strings-attached income program opposed by state Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), the state Supreme Court said Friday.

In a preliminary decision that briefly touches on the program’s lawfulness, the justices said they’re “skeptical” of the county’s argument that it serves a genuine public purpose. The program would have given $500 monthly payments to 1,928 county residents for 18 months.

Purchases from the monthly payments won’t be monitored, meaning it is “unlikely the county will know how recipients spend the money and ...