ST. LOUIS — A newly filed lawsuit contends that a city program paying some lower-income families $500 a month for a year and a half as “guaranteed basic income†violates the state Constitution and the city charter.
The legal challenge, launched Thursday in St. Louis Circuit Court, cites a state constitutional provision barring local governments from granting public money or property to “any private individual.â€
The suit also argues that the program, a priority of Mayor Tishaura O. Jones, runs afoul of a charter provision prohibiting city officers from spending money except for “adequate consideration and efficient service to the City.â€
The city is spending $5 million in pandemic aid toward the program, including $1 million for administrative expenses. In addition, Jack Dorsey, the former St. Louisan who founded tech firms Twitter and Square, contributed $1 million to the program.
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The plaintiffs are St. Louis residents Fred Hale, a former city Republican Party chairman and business professor, and Greg Tumlin, a substance abuse counselor at a local nonprofit. The suit was funded by the Holy Joe Society, a nonprofit group of local attorneys that its website says files legal action in support of what it considers “good governance and public policy.â€
“We think the big distinction here is the direct cash payment,†said the group’s litigation director, retired St. Louis Circuit Judge Robert Dierker. The payments are distributed via debit cards.
“If you could do this kind of thing, the constitutional provision really loses all meaning. It’s kind of a precedent-setting program for local government in Missouri,†he said in an interview.
The Holy Joe group is named for Joseph “Holy Joe†Folk, a St. Louis circuit attorney who crusaded against the city’s political machine at the turn of the 20th century and later became Missouri governor.
A spokesman for Jones, Conner Kerrigan, declined comment, saying the office doesn’t talk about pending legal action.
Jones and the city’s comptroller and treasurer — Darlene Green and Adam Layne — are listed as defendants along with the city. Neither commented on the suit. The city counselor’s office, which will represent the city in the case, did not respond to a request for comment.
Jones, at a news conference last fall, said the “guaranteed basic program†would give hundreds of households what they need “to lift themselves out of poverty, giving them a strong foundation to grow and to thrive.â€
Layne, while declining to discuss the suit, did say that the program follows federal regulations for using funds the city received through the American Rescue Plan Act, also known as ARPA.
Layne said monthly payments began last December to 540 residents who were chosen randomly from the more than 5,400 people who applied.
To be eligible, families could earn no more than 170% of the federal poverty level, or about $39,000 for a family of three.
Eligible families also had to have a child under age 18 enrolled in a city public school or charter school, and have experienced negative financial impact due to the pandemic, such as loss of work and increased child care costs.
Hale, one of the plaintiffs, complained in an interview that limiting the program to families with kids in public and charter schools discriminates against those with children enrolled in parochial and other private schools.
Hale said he and Tumlin, the other plaintiff, were invited by the legal team to take part in the case.
