Texas Democrats are pushing a measure that would send a one-time $1,500 payment to each qualified household. Democrats took over the state House in the midterm elections, but Republicans still hold control of the Texas Senate.
The text of the bill mentions no citizenship or legal status requirement, nor does it require a Social Security number. The words “citizen,” “citizenship,” “immigration,” “alien,” and “Social Security” never appear in the bill. The payments would be directed to households, not necessarily individuals.
The only eligibility test is residence. A “qualified household” is defined as “a household with a usual place of residence in this state on January 1, 2027, represented by a person who is at least 18 years of age on that date, or an emancipated minor, and that satisfies the verification requirements adopted under this chapter.”
Could your household get $1,500? Senate Bill 297 proposes a one-time payment for qualifying Texas households, with no income limit.
— FOX26Houston (@FOX26Houston) November 12, 2026
The plan still needs approval — checks are not on the way. If it becomes law, the goal would be to issue payments to verified households by the end… pic.twitter.com/6QyhndlC0I
The bill further states, “Eligibility for a payment may not be conditioned on the household's income, homeownership, property-tax liability, employment, receipt of public benefits, or whether its members filed a state or federal income tax return.”
Residence can be established by “a lease, utility record, school record, government correspondence, sworn declaration, or other reasonably reliable evidence.”
The bill is part of Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa’s “Corruption Tax Refund” pledge that became the centerpiece of her campaign.
State Sen. Roland Gutierrez, a San Antonio Democrat, laid out a proposal this week to implement that pledge, spelling out some of the potential mechanics of how Texas — not in the business of sending cash payments to its residents — would send $1,500 to 11.6 million households.
The state would have to build a way to distribute the cash payments from the ground up, with the idea of putting money in Texans’ bank accounts by the end of next year.
The idea, which Hinojosa pitched as one-time financial relief to help Texans ease their affordability woes, faces a tough climb out of both chambers. To pay for the $17 billion proposal, lawmakers would draw from the state’s “rainy day fund” — essentially Texas’ savings account, which sits north of $27 billion. Doing so requires a two-thirds vote of the members present in each house.
Though Democrats control the Texas House of Representatives, they would still need significant Republican support to get it over the line. In the GOP-dominated Senate, Democrats would need to peel off nine Republicans.
Getting Republicans on board will prove difficult if not impossible. Though GOP state lawmakers have sought to provide financial relief to Texans, including via property tax cuts, they’ve criticized efforts to send cash directly to Texans in the past — although President Donald Trump said in September he’d give $5,000 to every adult if Republicans held both chambers of Congress following last week’s midterm elections. Texas prohibits sending direct cash payments to residents, but Democrats appear to have found a workaround.
Hinojosa argued on the campaign trail that Texas’ rainy day fund needs a $10 billion balance to be fiscally responsible. The Economic Stabilization Fund held about $27.5 billion as of August 2026. The governor-elect believes the $17 billion should go back to Texas families.