HOUSTON — A Texas Senate committee brought back into focus the issue over the Uplift Harris program as county leaders aim to move forward with a revised version.
The Senate Committee on Local Government held a hearing Thursday, led by Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Republican from Houston.
“What we're looking at here is an advertised no-strings-attached, literally publicly no-strings-attached lottery giveaway, which I call lottery socialism,” Bettencourt said.
The original Uplift Harris program aimed to give $500 to about 1,900 county residents for 18 months as a pilot program.
But lawsuits delayed the program indefinitely, forcing the county to launch a second version last month, which includes more restrictions and leaders say avoids potential lawsuits.
Bettencourt on Thursday questioned the legality of similar efforts in the future.
“What I was concerned about was with that program specifically, was that it was a lottery giveaway,” Bettencourt said.
But Democrats pushed back.
“Any program that is underfunded and oversubscribed would be a lottery,” Sen. Sarah Eckhardt said.
Harris County Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis also sent a statement to KHOU 11 responding to the hearing.
“This week, instead of focusing on urgent needs that Texans want addressed, Senate leadership has attacked the investments Harris County makes to support struggling families,” Ellis said in the statement.
He concluded the statement pointing to the upcoming legislative session as a chance for state leaders to take action.
“The legislative session is just around the corner,” Ellis said. “The senator and others in leadership have the opportunity once again to use an enormous budget surplus to help the millions of Texans they’ve ignored.”
Harris County officials say the new Uplift Harris program is set to begin distributing funds on Jan. 1. County leaders say if another lawsuit comes between now and then, they'll need to reroute those funds to other programs.