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Senate committee debates ban on local guaranteed‑income programs as residents and advocates testify
Summary
Senate Bill 20 10 would prohibit cities and counties from adopting guaranteed‑income programs. Supporters called the programs redistributive and legally questionable; opponents, including program recipients, testified that pilots improved housing stability and well‑being.
Senate Bill 20 10, filed by Senator Paul Bettencourt, drew a lengthy and divided public hearing Wednesday in the Committee on Local Government, with proponents urging a statewide ban on local guaranteed‑income (GI) pilots and opponents describing personal and community benefits from recent programs.
Bettencourt said the bill is intended to enforce Article 3, Section 52 of the Texas Constitution, which prohibits gifts of public money to individuals, and to stop counties and cities from using federal or local funds to run guaranteed‑income schemes he described as "lottery socialism." He said some local governments used pandemic federal funds to launch large cash programs that were not authorized under state law.
Supporters of the bill included Paige Terryberry of FGA Action and James Quintero of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, who said GI…
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