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Acting Texas Comptroller Hancock used emergency rule to strip minority- and women-owned firms from HUB contracting program

On December 2, 2025, Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock invoked emergency rulemaking power to restructure the state's Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) program, removing eligibility for minority- and women-owned businesses and limiting participation to service-disabled veteran-owned firms, shrinking certified participants from over 15,000 to under 500. Four business owners and a minority-contractor trade association sued March 2, 2026, arguing Hancock exceeded his statutory authority and rewrote a legislatively-created program without legislative approval.

Jurisdiction
Texas
Location
Austin, Texas

Abuses documented

Actors

  • Kelly Hancock (Acting Texas Comptroller)
  • Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts

On December 2, 2025, Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock announced emergency rules restructuring the state's Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) program, a legislatively-created program dating to the 1990s that gave minority- and women-owned businesses a leg up competing for state contracts. The emergency rules, effective immediately, removed eligibility for all women- and minority-owned businesses and rebranded the program "VetHUB," limiting it to businesses owned by veterans with a service-connected disability of 20 percent or higher. The Comptroller's office said it would move to revoke existing HUB certifications and issue new VetHUB certifications in their place, shrinking the certified pool from more than 15,000 businesses to under 500.

Hancock, a candidate in a competitive Republican primary for comptroller, said the changes brought the program "into alignment with the Texas and U.S. constitutions by removing race- and sex-based preferences," citing the 2023 Supreme Court affirmative action ruling and Governor Abbott's 2025 executive order against DEI programs. He had previously frozen the HUB program administratively in October 2025 pending legal review.

Updates

2026-03-02 — Business owners and trade association sued over emergency rules [2]

Four business owners -- Ipsum General Contractors, Houston Construction Services, Mpulse Healthcare & Technology, and Williams Professional Water Restoration Service -- and the Houston chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors sued Hancock on March 2, 2026, in Travis County district court. The plaintiffs argued Hancock exceeded his statutory authority by rewriting a program the Legislature created, without legislative approval, and that several bills to eliminate the HUB program had died in committee in 2025 without passing. They sought a temporary injunction blocking the emergency rules and reinstatement to the program while the suit proceeds. "In this country, the legislature passes the laws, not the comptroller," lead counsel Alphonso David said.

2026-04-13 — Travis County judge temporarily reinstated HUB program rules [3]

In an order signed April 13, 2026, Travis County District Judge Amy Meachum ordered the state's Historically Underutilized Business Program rules temporarily reinstated, restoring HUB certification eligibility for women- and minority-owned businesses and reinstating six decertified businesses' certifications while the case proceeds toward a November 9, 2026 trial.

Why we recorded this

In Texas's constitutional system, the Legislature creates programs by statute and only the Legislature may rewrite or eliminate them; an executive-branch official acting alone lacks that authority. Acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock used emergency rulemaking power to unilaterally strip minority- and women-owned businesses from a legislatively-created contracting program, shrinking it from over 15,000 certified businesses to under 500. This archive records the action because bypassing the Legislature through emergency rule lets a single official rewrite a duly enacted law without the deliberation or accountability the legislative process requires.

Sources

  1. Acting Texas Comptroller Kelly Hancock Announces Emergency Rules for Revamped VetHUB Program — Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts primary accessed August 7, 2026
  2. Business owners sue Texas comptroller after their removal from state minority business program — San Antonio Current secondary accessed August 7, 2026
  3. Judge temporarily allows women, minority-owned businesses to qualify for Texas HUB program again — The Associated Press / The Texas Tribune (via WTOP) investigative accessed August 8, 2026

See also