A Missouri judge has halted a St. Louis guaranteed income program that is currently under court challenge.
Circuit Judge Joseph P. White on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order against the Guaranteed Basic Income Project (GBI) in St. Louis, a move that will affect more than 500 families who were participating in the GBI program.
“The City of St. Louis will comply with the judge’s order,” said St. Louis Mayor Tishaura O. Jones. According to the local FOX affiliate:.
“We are exploring our legal options and my administration continues to explore every possible avenue to support families in the city of St. Louis,” she added.
A St. Louis judge has halted the guaranteed income program while the case is being fought in court. (Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images)
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Jones is Pilot program approved He was named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit along with the city treasurer and comptroller in December 2022. Payments from the GBI program will be suspended until the lawsuit is resolved.
The lawsuit, filed June 13, alleges that the GBI is violating both the Missouri Constitution and the St. Louis City Charter.
According to St. Louis Public RadioCity lawyers countered that the program is constitutional because it aims to “stabilize families and benefit the local economy.”
In the lawsuit, “The Missouri Constitution prohibits counties, cities, or other political corporations or political subdivisions of the state from making loans.”[ing] That credit or grant[ing] No public money or public property may be transferred to any person, organization, or corporation…”
Bevis Schock, an attorney involved in the lawsuit, told Fox News Digital that his law firm, Holy Joe’s, is in the business of “enforcing constitutional norms” and that the Missouri Constitution and the city of St. Louis “prohibit gifts to individuals.”
Circuit Judge Joseph P. White on Thursday issued a temporary restraining order against the Guaranteed Basic Income Project (GBI) of St. Louis, a move that will affect more than 500 families who were participating in the GBI program. (iStock)
“This is exactly what it is, and we feel that corporate subsidies of all kinds are just as bad as the gift of a guaranteed basic income,” Schock told Fox News Digital.
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He added, “From a policy perspective, both are bad, but the Missouri Constitution actually prohibits a guaranteed basic income, and I feel that society would not function well if we did not enforce that constitutional norm.”
The first rollout of the $500 per month payments will be after the GBI program launches in December 2022. Announcement in October 2023The funding came from $5 million in COVID relief funds and a $1 million donation from tech billionaire Jack Dorsey.
To be eligible, participants had to earn less than $53,000 a year and have children. The program was originally expected to help 440 participants, but charitable donations allowed for an additional 100.
The program was scheduled to end in 2025.
Attorney General Ken Paxton argued that the guaranteed income program established in Harris County, called Uplift Harris, was “unconstitutional.” (MediaNews Group/Boston Herald/Dylan Hollingsworth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
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The ruling on the St. Louis GBI program comes amid a surge in similar programs across the U.S. in recent years. 100 GBI pilots launched since 2018Some of the GBI programs grew out of the efforts of a coalition of more than 100 mayors who pushed for a pilot GBI program that would provide up to $1,000 a month to low-income participants with no strings attached.
While some studies have shown that pilot programs have produced positive results, many of these programs face funding and legal challenges.
