The Arizona House of Representatives passed a bill aimed at halting guaranteed-basic-income programs in the state, with unanimous support from Republicans and no Democrats.

House Bill 2375 targets such programs by preventing municipalities from implementing initiatives that provide “unearned” cash payments without conditions, Fox News reports.

Republican Rep. Lupe Diaz, the bill’s sponsor, equated guaranteed income to socialism, criticizing a universal basic income program previously rolled out in Phoenix.

Diaz particularly highlighted a Phoenix initiative that allocated $12 million of federal COVID relief funds to give $1,000 monthly payments to 1,000 low-income families for a year.

According to the Arizona Mirror: Phoenix initiated a pilot program in 2022 that sought to give $1,000 a month to 1,000 families for a 12 month period. To qualify, participants would have to be low-income families who make 80% of the area median income or less, with children, and would be chosen via a lottery system. The city used federal COVID relief money to create the pilot. 

Similar initiatives have been launched in cities like Austin, Texas, and Houston, Texas, drawing criticism from state lawmakers who labeled them as “lottery socialism” and called for reviews of their constitutional validity.

Despite the challenges and criticisms, guaranteed-income programs have gained traction in various cities across the United States.

Austin, for example, used tax dollars and philanthropic donations to fund its initiative, which aimed to alleviate housing insecurity and other financial challenges for low-income families.

Similar programs have been implemented in Durham, North Carolina, and Baltimore, Maryland, reflecting a growing trend in addressing economic inequalities at the local level.