HF2319 bans Iowa counties and cities from creating or maintaining guaranteed income programs that give regular cash payments without work or training requirements. Existing programs may continue until January 1, 2025, or they expire. Violations can lead to cease-and-desist orders and legal action by the attorney general.
The Iowa State Senate passed HF2319 on April 16, 2024 by a vote of 35 to 13. We have assigned pluses to the ayes because the concept of a “guaranteed income” (i.e., ‘universal basic income’) relies on the immoral and anti-constitutional act of government-imposed theft disguised as taxation, which takes from citizens the wages they have rightfully earned. This manifestly socialist wealth-redistribution scheme violates both the Bill of Rights and the 14th Amendment, which were intended to protect against undue deprivation or disparagement of a person’s “property” and provide “equal protection of the laws” for all Americans.