ST. LOUIS — Thursday afternoon, the City of St. Louis was back in court for a hearing on a lawsuit filed against the guaranteed basic income program.
The attorneys bringing the suit against the city argue the program is unconstitutional and against the city charter.
Judge Joseph Whyte was considering a temporary restraining order to pause guaranteed basic income payments but didn’t make a decision Thursday.
Just under a month ago, the Holy Joe Society filed a lawsuit against the guaranteed basic income law, which provides 440 families about $500 per month from a pool of $5 million from the American Rescue Plan Act.
Lawyer Bevis Schock said this about the suit in June: “The Constitution of Missouri and the City of St. Louis' Charter documents and ordinances prevent just giving money to somebody for no reason."
Those payments have been going out for about eight months now.
Holy Joe Society lawyer Kimberley Mathis was in court Thursday afternoon asking the judge to provide a temporary restraining order to stop payments while the lawsuit played out saying there's no way to get the money back. Mathis said according to the St. Louis City Charter, using public money for private ends is illegal.
The city's lawyers pushed back saying guaranteed income is constitutional if the expenditure of public money to private entities or people serves a public purpose saying the goal of these payments is to help stimulate and stabilize the economy in St. Louis.
Mayor Tishaura Jones said this in November supporting the plan: “Families that receive guaranteed basic income are able to care for their children in better ways.”
City Treasurer Adam Layne reacted just moments after leaving the courtroom.
“I'm very pleased that the judge decided to take an extra look at this petition," Layne said. "So we will come back on Monday at 11 a.m. to get the final ruling, but the city’s Board of Aldermen, the elected persons for the city, agreed overwhelmingly that the guaranteed basic income program is a public benefit. So my office, the mayor's administration, is committed to making sure that we can continue serving the people of St. Louis and serving the city of St. Louis, so we will be back on Monday and we hope to have a favorable ruling.”
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