Arizona GOP seeks to ban cities from establishing universal basic income programs
Bill still needs to go through state senate, which has 16 Republicans and 14 Democrats
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Arizona House of Representatives on Thursday voted on a bill that would prohibit guaranteed-basic-income programs in the state.
House Bill 2375 was supported unanimously by Republicans and no Democrats. The bill still needs to go through the state senate, which has 16 Republicans and 14 Democrats, in order to become law.
The bill bans municipalities in Arizona from adopting "any ordinance, order or rule that has the purpose or effect of making payments to persons as part of a guaranteed income program."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}It defines a "guaranteed income program" as any program that sends "unearned" cash payments with no strings attached and could be used for any purpose.
Arizona State Capitol Building in Phoenix, Arizona. (dszc via Getty Images)
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According to Arizona Mirror, the sponsor of the bill, Republican Rep. Lupe Diaz, compared a guaranteed income to socialism, slamming a universal basic income program that was implemented in Phoenix in 2022. The program gave 1,000 low-income families $1000 a month for a year using $12 million of federal COVID relief funds.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Eligibility required participants to earn less than 80% of the city’s median income of $63,200 to qualify, according to a local news outlet.
Other cities in the U.S. launched a universal basic income system similar to Phoenix. Among them is Austin, Texas, which launched a pilot program in 2022.
A Texas state lawmaker called guaranteed income programs lottery socialism and called for Attorney General Ken Paxton to review the constitutional merits of the program. (Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}After the Austin City Council launched the measure in 2022, the state capital became the first major city in Texas to use tax dollars to fund "guaranteed income" programs. The guaranteed income program received $1.1 million in taxpayer funding and an additional amount of over $500,000 raised in philanthropic donations for the program.
The program distributed cash to low-income families. Recently, a survey showed that the Austin, Texas guaranteed income program helped address the problem of housing insecurity in the city.
A guaranteed income program was launched in Houston, Texas. The measure was challenged by a state lawmaker, calling it lottery socialism and for Attorney General Ken Paxton to review the constitutional merits of the program. (Jeff Greenberg/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Furthermore, a similar guaranteed income program was launched in Houston, Texas. The measure was challenged by a state lawmaker who called it lottery socialism and sent a letter to Attorney General Ken Paxton requesting that he review the constitutional merits of the program.
Other cities that launched guaranteed-income pilot programs are Durham, North Carolina, and Baltimore, Maryland.